Dinosaurs A to Z
Ankylosauridae

Ziapelta

Generic ankylosaur body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Ziapelta 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 Ziapelta
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Cretaceous (145–66 Mya)
Place
Mexico · New Mexico, USA
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Ankylosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Thyreophora Ankylosauria Club-tailed armored herbivores.
Ziapelta reconstruction by Illustration by Sydney Mohr
Reconstruction · Illustration by Sydney Mohr (CC-BY)

Ziapelta is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid. Its fossils have been found in the Hunter Wash and De-na-zin members of the Kirtland Formation of Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) New Mexico. It was named in 2014, in a research paper led by ankylosaur researcher Victoria Arbour. There is a single species in the genus, Ziapelta sanjuanensis. The genus is named after the Zia sun symbol, a stylized sun with four groups of rays, having religious significance to the Zia people of New Mexico, and the iconic symbol on the state flag of New Mexico, and pelta (Latin), a small shield, in reference to the osteoderms found on all ankylosaurids. The specific name is in reference to San Juan County and the San Juan basin, where the fossils were found. Multiple specimens have been described to date, though the fossils are mostly from the front part of the animal.

What we know

  • Named by Arbour et al., 2014.
  • Fossils found in Mexico and New Mexico, USA.

What we guess

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