Artist Danelle Dufault’s impression of Zaraapelta nomadis, a newly-named species of ankylosaur from Mongolia. (Image credit: Danielle Dufault)
A new paper on ankylosaurs from Mongolia has named one new species and ‘resurrected’ another.
The new species is Zaraapelta nomadis: ‘Zaraapelta’ is a combination of the Mongolian and Greek words for ‘hedgehog’ and ‘shield’ and refers to the elaborate pattern of bumps and grooves near the eye and a ridge along the back of the skull. Such ornamentation could have been used to attract mates.
The ‘resurrected’ species name, Tarchia kielanae, had gone out of use after previous studies suggested that those fossils belonged to another known species, Tarchia gigantea. However, the new analysis suggests that Tarchia kielanae is a separate species after all.
Original research paper published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society on October 27, 2014.
Names and affiliations of selected authors
