Pronunciation: GLIP-to-don-to-PEL-tuh
Meaning: Glyptodon shield
Author/s: Ford (2000)
Synonyms: Edmontonia australis?
First Discovery: New Mexico, USA
Discovery Chart Position: #465
Glyptodontopelta mimus
Glyptodontopelta — "Glyptodon shield" — was so named because its armour resembled that of the VW Beetle-sized, prehistoric armadillo known as Glyptodon. Unfortunately, three bits of flat armour-plate don't form a particularly strong foundation on which to build an entirely new genus of dinosaur, and many experts have been suspicious of its validity from the jump.
One worker who believed Glyptodontopelta to be a distinct and diagnostic dinosaur is Tracey Ford, though this is not surprising, because he named it! He even raised a new family called Stegopeltinae to house it, along with Aletopelta and Stegopelta, the latter of which Wendell Williston had compared to both Stegosaurus and Glyptodon in 1905. But still most experts remained unswayed.
Although found to be dubious in a review of ankylosaurs in 2004 despite a boost to its fossilised booty the previous year, Michael Burns revisited Glyptodontopelta in 2008 and confirmed that the surface texture of its armour was indeed unique for a dinosaur. But he also rejected Stegopeltinae, tagged Glyptodontopelta a nodosaurid, and had a sneaking suspicion that it may own the remains that Ford had assigned to Edmontonia australis from the older Kirtland Formation in the same 2000 paper.
One worker who believed Glyptodontopelta to be a distinct and diagnostic dinosaur is Tracey Ford, though this is not surprising, because he named it! He even raised a new family called Stegopeltinae to house it, along with Aletopelta and Stegopelta, the latter of which Wendell Williston had compared to both Stegosaurus and Glyptodon in 1905. But still most experts remained unswayed.
Although found to be dubious in a review of ankylosaurs in 2004 despite a boost to its fossilised booty the previous year, Michael Burns revisited Glyptodontopelta in 2008 and confirmed that the surface texture of its armour was indeed unique for a dinosaur. But he also rejected Stegopeltinae, tagged Glyptodontopelta a nodosaurid, and had a sneaking suspicion that it may own the remains that Ford had assigned to Edmontonia australis from the older Kirtland Formation in the same 2000 paper.
(Glyptodon shield mimic)
Etymology
Glyptodontopelta is derived from "Glyptodon"—from the Greek "glyptos" (carved) and "odon" (tooth)—and the Greek "pelte" (shield), becasue its armour was similar to that of a giant extinct armadillo called Glyptodon.
The species epithet, mimus, means "mimic" in Latin
Discovery
The only known remains of Glyptodontopelta were discovered in the Naashoibito Member of the Ojo Alamo Formation, in New Mexico's San Juan basin. This area has also yielded fossils of Alamosaurus, which, based on recent finds, may rank among the largest known sauropods.
The holotype (USNM 8610) consists of three pieces of armour plate. Additional armour fragments, along with a skull piece and part of a lower jaw, were uncovered in 2003 at a site later dubbed "Warwick’s Ankylosaur Hill", in honour of its discoverer, Warwick Fowler.
