Open Paleo

Crichtonpelta

Arbour & Currie, 2015 KRY-ton-PEL-tuh

Named after author Michael Crichton (of Jurassic Park fame) + Greek pelta, 'small shield'; means 'Crichton's shield', referring to its ankylosaur armor

113.2–93.9 million years ago Albian–Cenomanian, Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous stages

Crichtonpelta is a genus of extinct herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of China.

Diagnosis

  1. Apex of quadratojugal horn directed dorsally (autapomorphy unique among ankylosaurids).
  2. Quadratojugal horn apex posteriorly offset (not centrally located as in Gobisaurus and Shamosaurus).
  3. Nuchal crest bears two distinct transversely elongate prominences.
  4. Squamosal horns larger and more pointed than in Gobisaurus or Shamosaurus, though smaller than in Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus.
  5. Rugose, amorphous frontonasal ornamentation not subdivided into discrete caputegulae.
  6. Jugal dorsoventrally deeper than in Pinacosaurus grangeri or P. mephistocephalus.

Species

Crichtonpelta benxiensis (Lü et al., 2007)

Type species

First named as Crichtonsaurus benxiensis

Named for the Benxi Geological Museum in China, where the holotype is housed.

Holotype
BXGMV0012 , Benxi Geological Museum
Material
Nearly complete skull (anterior rostrum missing: premaxillae, maxillae, and part of nasals absent; left squamosal horn and left supraorbitals damaged).
Horizon
Sunjiawan Formation, Albian–Cenomanian, Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous , 113.2–93.9 million years ago
Locality
Liaoning, China

References

  1. Lü, J.; Ji, Q.; Gao, Y.; Li, Z. (2007). A New Species of the Ankylosaurid Dinosaur Crichtonsaurus (Ankylosauridae: Ankylosauria) from the Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, China. Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition) 81(6): 883-897. Wiley. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2007.tb01010.x

    Original description of the type species as Crichtonsaurus benxiensis, later reassigned to the new genus Crichtonpelta by Arbour and Currie.

    lü2007b
  2. Arbour, V. M.; Currie, P. J. (2015). Systematics, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 14(5): 385-444. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2015.1059985 arbour2015a
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

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

    jones2026a