Europelta (meaning “Europe’s shield”) is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from Spain that lived during the Early Cretaceous (early Albian stage, ~113.0 Ma) in what is now the lower Escucha Formation of the Teruel Province.[1] The type and only species, Europelta carbonensis, is known from two associated partial skeletons, and represents the most complete ankylosaur known from Europe. Europelta was named in 2013 by James I. Kirkland and colleagues.[1] Europelta has an estimated length of 5 metres (16 feet) and weight of 1.3 tonnes (2,866 lbs), making it the largest member of the clade Struthiosaurini.[2]
In 2011, the remains of two partial skeletons of an ankylosaur were discovered from the Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico of Teruel-Dinópolis locality AR-1 of the lower, located east of Ariño, in the northern Teruel Province in the Community of Aragón. The paratype of Europelta was collected 200 meters laterally from the holotype in the same bed. The site dates to the early Albian stage of the late Early Cretaceous, based on an analysis of the palynomorphs, ostracods and charophytes (calcareous nannofossils). The bonebed that the two skeletons were obtained from was located tens of meters underground preceding mining operations in the Santa María coal mine and by the end of 2012 the areal distributions of 101 vertebrate concentrations were documented that consisted of dinosaur, turtle, crocodilian and fish skeletons. The mineral Pyrite is common within the bones and in the bonebeds of the two associated skeletons, which is also common in the plant debris beds in the older Wessex Formation on the Isle of Wight. When the bones were exposed to the surface, they started to degrade due to the pyrite as indicated by the appearance of fine, powdery to crystalline gypsum coating bones and teeth, and by the shattering of some bones and teeth with internal gypsum formation.[1]
The two associated skeletons were named as Europelta carbonensis in 2013 by James Ian Kirkland, Luis Alcalá, Mark A. Loewen, Eduardo Espílez, Luis Mampel and Jelle P. Wiersma. The holotype specimen, AR-1/10, consists of a mostly complete skull, isolated nasals, a dentary fragment, isolated teeth, an atlas, cervical vertebrae, cervical ribs, dorsal vertebrae, a section of synsacrum, isolated dorsal ribs, dorsal rib fragments, caudal vertebrae, chevrons, a coracoid with a small portion of scapula, a scapular blade fragment, xiphosternal plates, partial humeri, an ischium, an ilium, pubes, and 70 osteoderms. The second skeleton that was designated as the paratype specimen, AR-1/31, consists of a partial jaw with dentary and surangular, an isolated angular, teeth, cervical vertebrae, dorsal vertebrae, dorsosacral vertebrae, a sacrum, a caudosacral vertebra, sacral rib fragments, caudal vertebrae, an ilium, ilium fragments, ischia with fused pubes, a femur, a tibia, a fibula, a calcaneum, metatarsals, phalanges, ungual, and 90 osteoderms. Both specimens are currently housed at the Funda Museo Aragonés de Paleontología, Spain.[1]
The generic name, Europelta, combines a contraction for Europe, as it is the most complete ankylosaur from the continent, and the Ancient Greek word “pelta” (shield), a common suffix for ankylosaurian genus names in reference to their armoured bodies. The specific name, carbonensis, means "from the coal", from the Latin carbo, in honour of the access provided by the Sociedad Anónima Minera Catalano-Aragonesa (SAMCA Group) to the fossil locality where Europelta was found, in the open-pit Santa María coal mine.[1]
In 2016, Gregory S. Paul gave Europelta an estimated length of 5 metres (16 feet) and a weight of 1.3 tonnes (2,866 lbs).[2]