Mymoorapelta ("Shield of Mygatt-Moore") is an ankylosaur from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian) Morrison Formation (Brushy Basin Member) of western Colorado, USA. The taxon is known from portions of a disarticulated skull, parts of three different skeletons and other postcranial remains. It is present in stratigraphic zones 4 and 5 of the Morrison Formation.[1]
There is 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. A new cladistic analysis performed by Thompson et al., 2011 suggests that Mymoorapelta is a basalnodosaurid.[2] To date, only a single species has been named for this taxon, M. maysi. Along with Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum, Mymoorapelta is one of the earliest known ankylosaurs, providing a look at the early evolution and diversification of this group of dinosaurs.
^Foster, J. (2007). "Appendix". Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. pp. 327–329.
^Richard S. Thompson; Jolyon C. Parish; Susannah C. R. Maidment; Paul M. Barrett (2011). "Phylogeny of the ankylosaurian dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. in press (2): 301–312. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.569091. S2CID86002282.
Sources[]
Carpenter, K.; Kirkland, J. I.; Birge, D.; Bird, J. (2001). "Disarticulated skull of a new primitive ankylosaurid from the Lower Cretaceous of Utah". In Carpenter, K. (ed.). The Armored Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press.
Kirkland, J. I.; 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; Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds. (2004). "Ankylosauria". The Dinosauria. University of California Press.
