A New Ankylosaurid Dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Kirtlandian) of New Mexico with Implications for Ankylosaurid Diversity in the Upper Cretaceous of Western North America
A new ankylosaurid (Ankylosauria: Dinosauria), Ziapelta sanjuanensis, gen. et sp. nov., is based on a complete skull, an incomplete first cervical half ring, a possible fragment of the second cervical half ring, and additional fragmentary osteoderms. The holotype specimen is from the Upper Cretaceous (Upper Campanian, Kirtlandian Land-Vertebrate Age) Kirtland Formation (De-na-zin Member) at Hunter Wash, San Juan Basin, in northwestern New Mexico, USA. Diagnostic characters of Ziapelta include: a large, prominent triangular median nasal caputegulum; a mixture of flat and bulbous frontonasal caputegulae; ventrolaterally oriented squamosal horns with a sharp, prominent dorsal keel; and the ventral surface of basicranium with three prominent anteroposteriorly oriented fossae. A phylogenetic analysis suggests that Ziapelta is not closely related to the other ankylosaurid from the De-na-zin Member, Nodocephalosaurus, but allies it to the northern North American ankylosaurids Ankylosaurus, Anodontosaurus, Euoplocephalus, Dyoplosaurus, and Scolosaurus.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America;New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America;New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America;Department of Geosciences, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, United States of America;New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America
Recommended Citation:
Victoria M. Arbour,Michael E. Burns,Robert M. Sullivan,et al. A New Ankylosaurid Dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Kirtlandian) of New Mexico with Implications for Ankylosaurid Diversity in the Upper Cretaceous of Western North America[J]. PLOS ONE,2014-01-01,9(9)