Open Paleo

Vectipelta

Pond et al., 2023 VEK-tee-PEL-tuh

Named after Vectis (the Latin name for the Isle of Wight), combined with Latin pelta meaning 'shield'; translates as 'Isle of Wight shield'

125.8–121.4 million years ago Barremian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Vectipelta is an extinct genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur recovered from the Early Cretaceous Wessex Formation of England. The genus contains a single species, V. barretti, known from a partial skeleton including several osteoderms. It was historically known as the "Spearpoint ankylosaur" prior to its description.

Diagnosis

  1. Anteriorly projecting lip on the ventral surface of the anterior articular facet of the axis
  2. Deep fossa present in the floor of the neural canal, piercing the centrum in cervical and caudal vertebrae
  3. Postzygapophyses of cervical vertebrae widely separated by a deep, transversely broad and dorsoventrally elongate fossa with a midline ridge extending toward the neural spine
  4. Epipophyses present in posterior cervical vertebrae
  5. Highly rugose ridges extending ventrally from the parapophyses to the centrum in anterior dorsal vertebrae
  6. Anterior centroparapophyseal laminae present on the neural arches in mid-dorsal vertebrae
  7. Ischium with elongate, gently curving shaft in lateral view that is straight in anterior view
  8. Sacral shield smooth on its dorsal surface with gently undulating low-relief ornamentation

Species

Vectipelta barretti Pond et al., 2023

Type species

Named for paleontologist Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum.

Holotype
IWCMS 1996.153, IWCMS 2021.75 , Dinosaur Isle Museum
Material
Cervical, dorsal, sacral and caudal vertebrae with a fused presacral rod, fragmentary girdle and limb elements, and numerous osteoderms.
Notes
Parts of the skeleton reached the museum at different times, under different accession numbers — the cervical vertebrae and six free dorsals under the earlier, the rest of it under the later.
Horizon
L5 Bed, Wessex Formation, Barremian, Early Cretaceous , 125.8–121.4 million years ago
Locality
50 m west of Chilton Chine, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom

References

  1. Pond, S.; Strachan, S. J.; Raven, T. J.; Simpson, M. I.; Morgan, K.; Maidment, S. C. R. (2023). Vectipelta barretti, a new ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, UK. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 21(1). Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2210577 pond2023a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

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

    jones2026a