Open Paleo

Aletopelta

Ford & Kirkland, 2001 a-LEE-to-PEL-tuh /əˌliːtoʊˈpɛltə/

From Greek 'aletes' ('wanderer') and 'pelte' ('shield'); meaning 'wandering shield', referring to the northward wandering of the Peninsular Ranges Terrane that carried the specimen from opposite middle Mexico.

83.6–72.2 million years ago Campanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Aletopelta is a monospecific genus of basal ankylosaurid dinosaur from Southern California that lived during the Late Cretaceous (upper Campanian stage, 75.5 Ma) in what is now the Point Loma Formation. The type and only species, Aletopelta coombsi, is known from a partial skeleton preserving osteoderms. It was originally described in 1996 by W. P. Coombs, Jr. and T.A. Deméré before being named in 2001 by Tracy Ford and James Kirkland. The holotype formed a miniature reef and was scavenged upon by invertebrates and sharks.

Diagnosis

  1. Teeth wider than tall (labiolingually compressed crowns broader than their height).
  2. Femur greatly longer than tibia and fibula, yielding a tibia/femur ratio of 0.63 to 0.67.
  3. Three metatarsals in the pes.
  4. Ilia covered by sutured, polygonal, low-peaked scutes arranged in a mosaic pattern.
  5. Massive, short-pointed spike in the shoulder region with a flat (non-beveled) base.
  6. Hollow, dorsoventrally asymmetrical triangular caudal scutes with the dorsal surface significantly more extensive than the ventral surface.

Species

Aletopelta coombsi Ford & Kirkland, 2001

Type species

Named for vertebrate paleontologist Walter Preston Coombs, Jr., in recognition of a career of work and research.

Holotype
SDNHM 33909 , San Diego Natural History Museum
Material
Eight teeth, fragmentary scapulae, partial humerus, partial ulna, possible right radius fragment, partial left and possibly right ischium, femora, tibiae, fibulae, four or five partial vertebrae, dorsal and sacral neural arches, fragmentary ribs, partial in-situ pelvic armor, and at least 60 detached armor plates.
Horizon
Point Loma Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
SDNHM Locality 3392, College Boulevard between El Camino Real and Palomar Airport Road, Carlsbad, California, United States

References

  1. Ford, T. L.; Kirkland, J. I. (2001). Carlsbad ankylosaur (Ornithischia, Ankylosauria): an ankylosaurid and not a nodosaurid. The Armored Dinosaurs 239-260. Indiana University Press, Bloomington. ford2001a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate, and the appearance features.

    jones2026a