Vectipelta

MEANING: Isle of Wight shield

PERIOD: Early Cretaceous

CONTINENT: Europe

Vectipelta was a large herbivore with short legs and a wide, flat body, covered in osteoderms and spikes. Although it was discovered in England, Vectipelta was not closely related to other ankylosaurs in the same area. It was actually most closely related to Chinese nodosaurs, suggesting dinosaurs moved freely from Asia to Europe in the Early Cretaceous.

Abstract from paper: The Wealden Group of southern England was deposited by rivers, on floodplains and in lagoons during the Early Cretaceous. Two historically significant ankylosaurs, Polacanthus and Hylaeosaurus, are currently known from its deposits; Hylaeosaurus from the ‘lower Wealden fauna’ and Polacanthus from the ‘upper Wealden fauna’. Here, we describe a new genus and species of ankylosaur from the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, which is characterized by numerous postcranial autapomorphies. Vectipelta barretti gen. et sp. nov. is 6–8 million years older than Polacanthus, and at least 3 million years younger than Hylaeosaurus, suggesting a more complicated pattern of faunal turnover in the Wealden Group than previously realized. Vectipelta does not appear to be closely related to either of the other Wealden taxa, but instead is found in a clade with two Chinese ankylosaurs, suggesting a complex pattern of dispersal to and from Europe, North America and Asia during the Early Cretaceous. The historic practise of cataloguing all ankylosaur material from the Wessex Formation as ‘Polacanthus’ has potentially prevented a diversity of taxa from being discovered, and new and existing material in museum collections should be re-appraised using an autapomorphy-driven approach.

Vectipelta is from the Early Cretaceous. The Cretaceous is the third and final geological period of the Mesozoic Era, with the Early Cretaceous making up roughly the first half, lasting from about 143 to 100 million years ago. The poles were ice-free, due to the relatively warm climate, and forests extended into high latitudes. The continued breakup of the continents created new coastlines and isolated landmasses, influencing the evolution of distinct dinosaur faunas.

It was a time of transition, as many groups of animals and plants began to take on more modern forms while others declined or disappeared. Pterosaurs continued to thrive, though early birds were becoming more diverse and widespread. Mammals remained small but adapted to a variety of ecological niches. In the oceans, ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs were common, and early mosasaurs began to appear.

Dinosaurs remained the dominant land animals, with groups like iguanodontians, spinosaurids, and carcharodontosaurids rising to prominence. While sauropods declined in some regions, they remained abundant in the Southern Hemisphere. The first true ceratopsians appeared, and ankylosaurs replaced stegosaurs in their niche. Dromaeosaurs and other small theropods diversified. During this time, the first flowering plants evolved, gradually changing global ecosystems by providing new food sources for herbivores.

Vectipelta is a nodosaurid. Nodosaurids are a family of armored dinosaurs within Ankylosauria, distinct from their ankylosaurid relatives most notably by the absence of a tail club. Like all ankylosaurs, they were herbivorous, quadrupedal, and covered in bony osteoderms for protection. However, nodosaurids generally had narrower skulls, longer limbs, and more pronounced shoulder spikes compared to ankylosaurids.

They first appeared in the Late Jurassic and thrived until the end of the Cretaceous Period. Nodosaurids are primarily known from North America and Europe, with some fossils also found in South America and Asia, indicating a wider distribution than previously thought.

Nodosauridae and ankylosauridae make up the larger group ankylosauria, which, along with the stegosaurs, form the group Thyreophora, known for their various combinations of armor and spikes.