Meaning
Vectis Shield
Length
15-20 metres (49- 65 feet)
Classification
Ornithischia Seeley, 1887
Thyreophora Nopcsa 1915, (sensu Norman, 1984)
Ankylosauria Osborn, 1923
Vectipelta barretti Pond et al 2023
Locations
The specimen was discovered in a plant debris bed in a landslipped block that retained original stratigraphy, 50 m west of Chilton Chine on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight
Vectipelta was a armoured thyreophoran dinosaur, walking on all fours with rows of spikes along its back, and a large bony plate over the hips. These were to protect it from predators.
Vectipelta differs from other ankylosaurs by the possession of the following autapomorphies: anteriorly projecting lip on the ventral surface of the anterior articular facet of the axis; deep fossa present in the floor of the neural canal, piercing the centrum in cervical and caudal vertebrae; postzygapophyses of cervical vertebrae widely separated by a deep, transversely broad and dorsoventrally elongate fossa containing a midline ridge extending dorsally towards the neural spine; epipophyses present in posterior cervical vertebrae; highly rugose ridges extending ventrally from the parapophyses to the centrum in anterior dorsal vertebrae; anterior centroparapophyeal laminae present on the neural arches in mid-dorsal vertebrae; ischium with elongate, gently curving shaft in lateral view that is straight in anterior view; sacral shield smooth on its dorsal surface with gently undulating low-relief ornamentation.