Dino card No. 1881 of 2,027

Vectipelta

Say it: VECK-tih-PEL-tuh

Name means: “Isle of Wight shield”1

Ate: PlantsArmoured dinosEarly Cretaceous

Vectipelta was an armoured dinosaur that looked like a walking tank! It had blade-like armour and spikes sticking out of its body. Even though it looked scary, it was a gentle plant-eater.2

Lived

139 to 137 million years ago6

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom1 6

Food

Plants2 6

Length

4 to 5 m1

estimate based on partial skeleton

Weight

1.35 tonnes3

largest known specimen

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 45 big dogs

as long as 5 dogs nose to tailas long as 28 bananas end to endas heavy as 270 watermelons

How big was Vectipelta compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Vectipelta is the first new armoured dinosaur found on the Isle of Wight in 142 years.1 2

Its fossils were found near Chilton Chine on the Isle of Wight, first by Gavin Leng in 1993 and then by Lin Spearpoint in 1994.1

Scientists used to think these bones belonged to another dinosaur called Polacanthus, but now they know Vectipelta is a different species.1 2

Vectipelta is more closely related to armoured dinosaurs from China than to other English ankylosaurs like Polacanthus.2

This dinosaur was named after Paul Barrett, a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London.1 2

Vectipelta lived about 139 to 137 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.6

The site where Vectipelta was found, the Wessex Formation, is a very important place for learning about how dinosaurs went extinct.2

AI-made picture of Vectipelta — An AI-made picture of how Vectipelta might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Vectipelta

?How big was Vectipelta?

Scientists do not know exactly, but it was a medium-sized ankylosaur with short legs and a wide, flat body, similar to other armoured dinosaurs.4

?What did Vectipelta eat?

It was a plant-eater, eating ferns and other plants that grew in the humid forests of the Early Cretaceous.4

?When did Vectipelta live?

Vectipelta lived about 125 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.4

?Why is Vectipelta named after Paul Barrett?

It was named to honour palaeontologist Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum for his support and mentorship.1 5

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Vectipelta
Named by: Pond et al. 20236
Group: Armoured dinos
Family / clade: Ankylosauria6
Classification: Ornithischia > Ankylosauria > Thyreophora6
Age of the rocks: 139 to 137 million years (Berriasian)6
Rock formations: Wessex6
Countries: United Kingdom6
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database6
Discovery: Vectipelta was named in 2023 by Stuart Pond and colleagues. The fossils were found in 1993 and 1994 on the Isle of Wight, England, and were first thought to be from a different dinosaur, Polacanthus.1 6
Still debated: Scientists aren't sure exactly how long Vectipelta was, because only a partial skeleton has been found.1

Where the facts come from

Vectipelta (en.wikipedia.org)
Isle of Wight: New dinosaur species discovered (bbc.com)
Vectipelta barretti | Dinosaur Database by DinoAnimals.com (dinoanimals.com)
New species of dinosaur named after Museum scientist Paul Barrett | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
New dinosaur named for Natural History Museum Professor | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Vectipelta in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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