Mymoorapelta

Holozoa

Mymoorapelta Temporal range: Late Jurassic, Kimmeridgian–Tithonian PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Suborder:	†Ankylosauria
Family:	†Nodosauridae
Genus:	†Mymoorapelta Kirkland et Carpenter, 1994
Species:	†M. maysi
Binomial name
Mymoorapelta maysi Kirkland et Carpenter, 1994

Mymoorapelta ("Shield of Mygatt-Moore") is an ankylosaur from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian) Morrison Formation (Brushy Basin Member) of western Colorado. The taxon is known from portions of a disarticulated skull, parts of three different skeletons and other postcranial remains. Present in stratigraphic zones 4 and 5 of the Morrison Formation.^[1]

Cast in Wyoming Dinosaur Center

There is presently some controversy as to this ankylosaur's position within the Ankylosauria. Vickaryous et al. (2004) considered it Ankylosauria incertae sedis, while Kirkland et Carpenter (1994) placed it within the Family Polacanthidae. A new cladistic analysis performed by Thompson et al., 2011 suggests that Mymoorapelta is a basal nodosaurid.^[2] To date, only a single species has been named for this taxon, M. maysi. Along with Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum, Mymoorapelta is one of the earliest known ankylosaurs, providing a look at the early evolution and diversification of this group of dinosaurs.

References

1. ^ Foster, J. (2007). "Appendix." Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. pp. 327-329.
2. ^ Richard S. Thompson, Jolyon C. Parish, Susannah C. R. Maidment and Paul M. Barrett (2011). "Phylogeny of the ankylosaurian dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology in press. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.569091. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14772019.2011.569091. 

• Carpenter, K., Kirkland, J. I., Birge, D., and Bird, J. 2001. Disarticulated skull of a new primitive ankylosaurid from the Lower Cretaceous of Utah. in Carpenter, K. (editor) 2001. The Armored Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press
• J. I. Kirkland and K. Carpenter 1994. North America's first pre-Cretaceous ankylosaur (Dinosauria) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of western Colorado Brigham Young University Geology Studies 40:25-42
• 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.

Dinosaurs portal