Vectipelta

Vectipelta Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, Hauterivian–Barremian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Vectipelta holotype at the Dinosaur Isle Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	†Ornithischia
Clade:	†Thyreophora
Clade:	†Ankylosauria
Genus:	†Vectipelta Pond et al., 2023
Species:	†V. barretti
Binomial name
†Vectipelta barretti Pond et al., 2023

Vectipelta (meaning "

The Vectipelta

The fossil material was initially described in a PhD thesis by Thomas J. Raven and concluded to represent a new taxon in 2021.[5] A May 2023 study proposing a paraphyletic Nodosauridae included the "Spearpoint ankylosaur" in its phylogenetic dataset, although it was given the placeholder name "Polywotsit" in the supplementary information.^[6]

In June 2023, Pond et al. described Vectipelta barretti as a new genus and species of ankylosaurian based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "Vectipelta", is derived from "Vectis", the Roman name for the Isle of Wight. The specific name, "barretti", honours palaeontologist Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum.^[1]

Vectipelta is the first ankylosaur identified from the Isle of Wight in 142 years, suggesting that the myriad of specimens previously assigned to Polacanthus and Hylaeosaurus may actually represent multiple taxa.^[1]

Classification

Pond et al. (2023) recovered Vectipelta as the

The Wessex Formation spans a considerable period of time of probably several million years, and therefore not all animals known from the formation are likely to have been contemporaneous. Vectipelta is likely millions of years older than Polacanthus.^[1]

References