Dracopelta

Dracopelta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Ornithischia
Suborder:	Thyreophora
Infraorder:	Ankylosauria
Family:	? Ankylosauridae
Genus:	Dracopelta
Species:	D. zbyszewskii
Binomial name
Dracopelta zbyszewskii Galton, 1980

Dracopelta (from Latin draco, dragon and Greek πέλτη, peltē, "small shield") was an ankylosaurian dinosaur from Portugal, described by Peter Galton in 1980. When Galton described the only known specimen, he referred it to the Kimmeridgian age (Late Jurassic) of the locality of Ribamar. However, to complicate matters, there are two localities nearby called Ribamar in the Estremadura region of Portugal. The first, near Mafra, is dated as Early Cretaceous, and the second, near Lourinhã, as Late Jurassic. Antunes and Mateus (2003), considered the Late Jurassic age to be more likely.

The type species was designated D. zbyszewskii, in honour of palaeontologist George Zbyszewski.

Material

The holotype of D. zbyszewsii is a partial skeleton that consists of a rib cage with thirteen dorsal vertebrae and five dermal scutes.

Systematics

Dracopelta was the first ankylosaur recognized from the Late Jurassic and remains one of the most primitive known genera referred to the Ankylosauria. Though originally placed within the Nodosauridae, Vickaryous et al. (2004) considered Dracopelta Ankylosauria incertae sedis.

Palaeobiology

It's difficult to estimate the animal's size from the fragmentary remains, but it was clearly a small dinosaur, approximately 2 meters long.

As an ankylosaur, it was almost certainly an herbivore.

References

• Antunes, M. T., and Mateus, O. 2003. Dinosaurs of Portugal. Comptes Rendus Palevol 2:77-95
• Galton, P. M. 1980. Partial skeleton of Dracopelta zbyszewskii n. gen. and n. sp., an ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. Geobios 13(3):451-457
• Vickaryous, Maryanska, and Weishampel 2004. Chapter Seventeen: Ankylosauria. in The Dinosauria (2nd edition), Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H., editors. University of California Press.

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