Antarctopelta

Antarctopelta was the first dinosaur fossil ever named from Antarctica, even though it was discovered before another Antarctic dinosaur called Cryolophosaurus.1

Its tail had a special weapon called a macuahuitl, made of flat, spiky bones fused together. It looked like an Aztec club and was used for defence.1

Scientists found six different types of armour plates on Antarctopelta, including large flat ones and tall keeled spikes.1

Antarctopelta lived in a warm, ice-free Antarctica with dense forests of conifers, cycads, and ginkgos. It still had to survive long dark winters.1

The only known skeleton was discovered in 1986 by Argentine geologists Eduardo Olivero and Robert Scasso, but it took ten years to dig out because of frozen ground and bad weather.1

Antarctopelta shared its home with the small plant-eater Trinisaura, as well as marine reptiles like mosasaurs and plesiosaurs.1