Ziapelta is an extinct type of dinosaur known as an ankylosaurid. This dinosaur lived during the Late Cretaceous period, around 74.5 to 72.6 million years ago. Fossils of Ziapelta were discovered in New Mexico.
The discovery of Ziapelta was made in 2011 by a team from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and the State Museum of Pennsylvania. They found many fossils in the Kirtland Formation, particularly in two areas called Hunter Wash and De-na-zin. In 2014, a group of researchers, led by Victoria Arbour, formally named the dinosaur Ziapelta sanjuanensis.
The name Ziapelta reflects both cultural and physical features. It comes from “Zia,” a sun symbol important to the Zia people of New Mexico, and “pelta,” which is Latin for a small shield, referring to the bony plates found on this dinosaur’s body.
Ziapelta was a plant-eater and had some unique features. It had a large, triangular bone plate on its snout, curved horns on its skull, and grooves at the back of its head.
The remains of Ziapelta are mostly fragments of the front part of the dinosaur, including a complete skull that is missing only the lower jaw. The skull is flat and has distinctive features like large eye sockets and a bony structure that protected its head.
The body of Ziapelta was covered in bony “armor” called osteoderms. These were like a natural suit of armor made of bone that helped protect it from predators. Ziapelta also had bony rings in its neck that were similar to bone plates.
Ziapelta is thought to be closely related to other ankylosaurids like Scolosaurus and Nodocephalosaurus, but it has distinct differences from them.
Fossils of Ziapelta show that it lived in a world that was very different from today, suggesting that it might have migrated from areas in Asia, indicating a connection between different regions of dinosaurs during that time.
In summary, Ziapelta was a unique dinosaur known for its armor and distinctive skull features, reflecting the rich diversity of life during the Late Cretaceous period.