Open Paleo

Bissektipelta

Parish & Barrett, 2004 bish-ehk-tee-pel-tuh

From Bissekty (the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan, where the fossils were found) + Greek pelte (πέλτη) meaning 'shield'; overall meaning 'Bissekty shield'.

93.9–89.8 million years ago Turonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Bissektipelta is a genus of ankylosaurine thyreophoran dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. Bissektipelta is a monospecific genus, containing only the type species B. archibaldi.

Diagnosis

  1. Distinctive pattern of grooves on the dorsal skull roof forming a truncated 'Y' shape, separating three flat polygonal areas of remodelled bone.
  2. Combined presence of the truncated 'Y' skull roof groove pattern and three separate exits for the hypoglossal nerve (cranial nerve XII) is unique among ankylosaurs.

Species

Bissektipelta archibaldi Parish & Barrett, 2004

Type species

Named for James David Archibald, who led the URBAC (Uzbekistan, Russia, Britain, America, and Canada) project that performed the excavation of the holotype.

Holotype
ZIN PH 1/16 , Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
Material
Partial braincase and skull roof.
Horizon
Bissekty Formation, Turonian, Late Cretaceous , 93.9–89.8 million years ago
Locality
Dzharakuduk, Navoiy, Uzbekistan

Notable specimens

  • ZIN PH 281/16

    Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences ontogeny

    Referred partial braincase, smaller than the holotype and well preserved, with open sutures between some bones, indicating a less skeletally mature individual.

    Kuzmin et al. (2020)

References

  1. Parish, J. C.; Barrett, P. M. (2004). A reappraisal of the ornithischian dinosaur Amtosaurus magnus Kurzanov and Tumanova 1978, with comments on the status of A. archibaldi Averianov 2002. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 41(3): 299-306. Canadian Science Publishing. doi:10.1139/e03-101 parish2004a
  2. Alifanov, V. R.; Saveliev, S. V. (2019). The brain morphology and neurobiology in armored dinosaur Bissektipelta archibaldi (Ankylosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Uzbekistan. Paleontological Journal 53(3): 315-321. doi:10.1134/S003103011903002X

    Reconstructs the brain and cranial-nerve anatomy of B. archibaldi from an endocranial cast of the holotype braincase.

    alifanov2019a
  3. Kuzmin, I.; Petrov, I.; Averianov, A. O.; Boitsova, E.; Skutschas, P.; Sues, H. D. (2020). The braincase of Bissektipelta archibaldi — new insights into endocranial osteology, vasculature, and paleoneurobiology of ankylosaurian dinosaurs. Biological Communications 65(2): 85-156. doi:10.21638/spbu03.2020.201 kuzmin2020a
  4. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates, and the appearance features.

    jones2026a