Mymoorapelta

a Mymoorapelta is flanked by a pair of Ceratosaurus

Type Species: Mymoorapelta maysi

Classification: Dinosauria – Ornithischia – Thyreophora – Ankylosauria – Nodosauridae 

Time Period: Late Jurassic 

Location: North America

Diet: Herbivore   

Mymoorapelta is one of the earliest ankylosaurs along with Gargoyleosaurus. Mymoorapelta was the first Jurassic ankylosaur to be discovered in North America, though scientists ponder its exact placement within Ankylosauria. Because it lacks a tail club, most scientists consider it to be a nodosaur (one of the ‘branches’ of Ankylosauria; these ankylosaurs lacked tail clubs). Some believe it to be a polacanthine ankylosaur, a ‘middle-ground’ between the clubbed ankylosaurs and the non-clubbed nodosaurs; others believe it is a basal ankylosaur that doesn’t fit into Ankylosauridae nor Nodosauridae. At only ten feet in length snout-to-tail, Mymoorapelta is the smallest herbivore known from the Morrison Formation. It was a low browser, feeding on ferns and cycads and other low-growing plants. Its armor would’ve given it decent protection against predators such as Allosaurus, but it may not have been an invulnerable deterrence, as predators were known to go after the plated and spiked stegosaurs in the same environment. Being so small and low to the ground, Mymoorapelta’s first line of defense may have been one of hiding among foliage to escape detection. 

a cast of well-preserved Mymoorapelta remains