Dinosaurs A to Z
Ankylosauridae

Ahshislepelta

"Ah-shi-sle-pah Wash shield"

Generic ankylosaur body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Ahshislepelta 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ankylosaur body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Ahshislepelta
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (74.5 Mya)
Place
Mexico · New Mexico, USA
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Ankylosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Thyreophora Ankylosauria Club-tailed armored herbivores.

Ahshislepelta (meaning “Ah-shi-sle-pah Wash shield”) is a monospecific genus of ankylosaur dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian stage, 74.5 Ma) in what is now the Hunter Wash Member of the Kirtland Formation. The type and only species, Ahshislepelta minor, is known only from an incomplete postcranial skeleton of a small subadult or adult individual. It was named in 2011 by Michael Burns and Robert M. Sullivan. Based on the size of the humerus, Ahshislepelta is larger than Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus but smaller than Talarurus and Pinacosaurus grangeri.

What we know

  • Named by Burns & Sullivan, 2011.
  • Fossils found in Mexico and New Mexico, USA.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Ahshislepelta — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.