Ahshislepelta

Ahshislepelta Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Campanian PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	†Ornithischia
Family:	†Ankylosauridae
Subfamily:	†Ankylosaurinae
Genus:	†Ahshislepelta Burns & Sullivan, 2011
Species
†A. minor Burns & Sullivan, 2011 (type)

Ahshislepelta is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurine ankylosaurid dinosaur from Late Cretaceous (late Campanian stage) deposits of San Juan Basin, New Mexico, USA.

Ahshislepelta is known from the holotype SMP VP-1930, a closely associated and incomplete postcranial skeleton of an adult individual consisting of the shoulder girdle, a partial left forelimb, vertebrae and osteoderms. It was discovered in 2005 and collected between 2005 and 2009 from the Hunter Wash Member of the Kirtland Formation at the Ah-shi-sle-pah Wash locality. Ahshislepelta was first named by Michael E. Burns and Robert M. Sullivan in 2011 and the type species is Ahshislepelta minor. The generic name comes from the Ah-shi-sle-pah Wash locality, where the fossils were found, and pelta, "shield" in Greek. The specific name is derived from minor, "small" in Latin, in reference to its smaller adult size relative to other ankylosaurids from North America. Humerus length is thirty-one centimetres.^[1]

Ahshislepelta was assigned to the Ankylosauridae and more precisely to the Ankylosaurinae.^[1]

See also

• Timeline of ankylosaur research

References

1. Michael E. Burns and Robert M. Sullivan (2011). "A new ankylosaurid from the Upper Cretaceous Kirtland Formation, San Juan Basin, with comments on the diversity of ankylosaurids in New Mexico" (PDF). Fossil Record 3. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 53: 169–178.