Patagopelta
| Patagopelta Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
|---|---|
| Skeletal reconstruction showing known osteoderms (top) and other skeletal remains (bottom) in white | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Thyreophora |
| Clade: | †Ankylosauria |
| Clade: | †Parankylosauria (?) |
| Genus: | †Patagopelta Riguetti et al., 2022 |
| Species: | †P. cristata |
| Binomial name | |
| †Patagopelta cristata Riguetti et al., 2022 | |
Patagopelta (meaning "Patagonian shield") is an extinct genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (upper Campanian–lower Maastrichtian) Allen Formation of Argentina. The genus contains a single species, P. cristata, known from a partial skeleton. While originally described as a nodosaurine, later discoveries provided support for parankylosaurian affinities for the taxon. Patagopelta is a very small ankylosaur, comparable in size to the dwarf nodosaurid Struthiosaurus, about 2 m (6.6 ft) long.