Vectipelta

Say it like this: “VEK-tee-PEL-tuh”

Vectipelta barretti

Vectipelta ate plants and walked on four legs. It lived in the Early Cretaceous. Bones have been found in the United Kingdom.

Quiz me on Vectipelta

When: Early Cretaceous (Barremian) · roughly 125.8 to 121.4 million years ago
Named in: 2023 · Pond, S.; Strachan, S. J.; Raven, T. J.; Simpson, M. I.; Morgan, K.; Maidment, S. C. R.
Hip height: 0.9 m · 3 ft
Length: 4 m · 13 ft
Weight: Not established
Found in: the United Kingdom · Wessex
Food and walking: Herbivore · Four legs
Kind: armored dinosaur · Ankylosaur
Family branch: Nodosauridae

The story in short

Vectipelta was formally named in 2023 by S. Pond and colleagues. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.

It lived in the Early Cretaceous (Barremian), roughly 125.8 to 121.4 million years ago. Finds come from the United Kingdom, including the Wessex Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on four legs.

Published estimates put Vectipelta at a length near 4 m and hips about 0.9 m high.

On the family tree it sits in Nodosauridae, among the armored dinosaurs.

Close relatives

Acantholipan

Acantholipan gonzalezi

Late Cretaceous (Santonian) · roughly 85.7 to 83.6 million years ago

Animantarx

Animantarx ramaljonesi

Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) · roughly 100.5 to 93.9 million years ago

Anoplosaurus

Anoplosaurus curtonotus

Early Cretaceous (Albian) · roughly 113.2 to 100.5 million years ago