Dongyangopelta
"Dongyang shield"
- Length
- 5 m (16.4 ft)
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (105–96 Mya)
- Place
- Asia · China
- Food
- Herbivore
- Clade
- Nodosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Thyreophora Ankylosauria Ankylosaurs without the tail club.
Dongyangopelta (meaning “Dongyang shield”) is an monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur that lived in China during the Early to Late Cretaceous period (Albian to Cenomanian stages, 105-96 Ma) in what is now the Chaochuan Formation. The type and only known species, Dongyangopelta yangyanensis, is known from a partial postcranial skeleton preserving osteoderms and ossified tendons. It was named in 2013 by Rongjun Chen, Wenjie Zheng, Yoichi Azuma, Masateru Shibata, Tianling Lou, Qiang Jin and Xinsheng Jin. Dongyangopelta represents one of the only nodosaurids known from Asia, along with Taohelong and Sauroplites.
What we know
- Named by Chen et al., 2013.
- Fossils found in Asia and China.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Dongyangopelta — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.