Mymoorapelta

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Mymoorapelta Fossil range: Late Jurassic
Conservation status
Exinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Superorder: Dinosauria Order: Ornithischia Suborder: Thyreophora Infraorder: Ankylosauria Family: ?Ankylosauridae Genus: Mymoorapelta 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. 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. To date, only a single species has been named for this taxon, M. maysi. Along with Gargoyleosaurus pankinorum, Mymoorapelta is one of the earliest known ankylosaurs, providing a look at the early evolution and diversification of this group of dinosaurs.

[edit] References

• 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.