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Borealopelta markmitchelli
Taxonomy
Borealopelta markmitchelli was named by Brown et al. (2017). Its type specimen is TMP 2011.033.0001, a skeleton (an articulated specimen preserving the head, neck, most of the trunk and sacrum, a complete right and a partial left forelimb and manus, partial pes), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Suncor Millennium Mine, which is in an Aptian terrestrial horizon in the Clearwater Formation of Canada. It is the type species of Borealopelta.
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 2017 | Borealopelta markmitchelli Brown et al. figs. 1-4 |
| 2020 | Borealopelta markmitchelli Brown et al. p. 1 |
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If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.
†Borealopelta markmitchelli Brown et al. 2017
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| C. M. Brown et al. 2017 | A nodosaurid ankylosaur characterized by the following autapomorphies
(*) and suite of characters [character/state]: cranial: dorsal skull ornamentation expressed as a large hexagonal dermal plate in frontoparietal region [52:1] and multiple (>20) small dermal plates in frontonasal region [21:2]*; external nares excluded from view dorsally (shared with Pawpawsaurus) [16:1]; supraorbital ornamentation forming sharp lateral rim dorsal to orbits (shared with Gargoyleosaurus and Kunbarrasaurus) [38:2]; jugal (suborbital) horn triangular with pointed apex (shared with Gastonia, Gargoyleosaurus, and Polocanthus) [47:2]; jugal (suborbital) horn base longer than orbit length [49:2]*; osteoderms: cervical and thoracic osteoderms form continuous (abutting) transverse rows completely separated by continuous transverse rows of polygonal basement scales; parascapular spine is the largest osteoderm, recurved, and projects posterolaterally and horizontally (potentially shared with Sauropelta); osteoderm count for transverse rows: cervicals: C1-3, C2-3, C3-3, transition: TR-2, thoracic: T1-6*; third and sixth transverse thoracic osteoderm rows expressed medially but pinch out laterally*. The new taxon can be further differentiated from Pawpawsaurus based on: dermal plate in frontonasal region (central dermal plates) flat [22:1]; absence of ciliary osteoderm [41:0]. Can be further differentiated from Sauropelta based on: parietals flat to slightly convex [51:0]; cervical half ring has 4–6 osteoderms only [164:1]; medial cervical osteoderms subequal, hexagonal, and bear prominent median ridge with posterior margin projecting beyond the basal footprint. |