Sauropelta

Sauropelta is a genus of nodosaurid dinosaur that existed in the Early Cretaceous Period of North America. One species has been named. Anatomically, Sauropelta is one of the most well-understood nodosaurids, with fossilized remains recovered in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Montana, and possibly Utah. It is also the earliest known genus of nodosaurine; most of its remains are found in a section of the Cloverly Formation dated to 108.5 million years ago.

Sauropelta

Ryan Somma · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
NodosauridaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ornithischia
Life habit
ground dwelling, gregariousPBDB, for Ornithischia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithischia
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Ornithischia
Length
6.5 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 6.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 113.2 Mya to 106.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 121.4 Mya to 93.9 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 28 of 34 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 6 of 34 occurrencesLate Cretaceous122–121 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences121–120 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences120–119 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences119–118 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences118–117 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences117–116 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences116–115 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences115–114 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences114–113 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences113–112 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences112–111 Mya — about 1 occurrence111–111 Mya — about 1 occurrence111–110 Mya — about 2 occurrences110–109 Mya — about 2 occurrences109–108 Mya — about 2 occurrences108–107 Mya — about 2 occurrences107–106 Mya — about 2 occurrences106–105 Mya — about 2 occurrences105–104 Mya — about 2 occurrences104–103 Mya — about 2 occurrences103–102 Mya — about 2 occurrences102–101 Mya — about 2 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 1 occurrence100–99 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences98–97 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences97–96 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences113.2 Mya106.3 Mya122 Mya93.3 Mya

34 occurrences of Sauropelta on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

34 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Cloverly — 45.49°N, 108.52°WCloverly — 44.54°N, 108.01°WCloverly — 45.44°N, 108.08°WCloverly — 45.42°N, 108.18°WCloverly — 45.12°N, 108.71°WCloverly — 45.36°N, 108.81°WCloverly — 44.69°N, 108.24°WCloverly — 44.98°N, 108.32°WCloverly — 45.45°N, 108.10°WCloverly — 45.38°N, 108.29°WCloverly — 45.41°N, 108.04°WCloverly — 46.32°N, 109.71°WCloverly — 45.26°N, 108.41°WCloverly — 44.51°N, 107.90°WCloverly — 44.50°N, 107.82°WCedar Mountain — 38.76°N, 109.74°WCedar Mountain — 38.90°N, 110.33°WWayan — 42.97°N, 111.27°W

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The named rock units Sauropelta has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Sauropelta and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Sauropelta and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

82 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 31 sites for Sauropelta, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

6 references

Each of the 34 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Sauropelta

Credit
Ryan Somma
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itNodosauridae through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ostrom 1970