biology

Glyptodontopelta

Glyptodontopelta is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Glyptodontopelta rather than just read about it. In short: Glyptodontopelta (meaning "Glyptodon shield") is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous (lower to upper Maastrichtian, 69 to 66 Ma) in what is now the Naashoibito member of the Ojo Alamo Formation. The type and only species, Glyptodontopelta mimus, is known from numerous specimens that consist of osteoderms, a dentary, supraorbital and bone fragments.

Key takeaways

Glyptodontopelta belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Glyptodontopelta to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Glyptodontopelta from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Glyptodontopelta (meaning "Glyptodon shield") is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous (lower to upper Maastrichtian, 69 to 66 Ma) in what is now the Naashoibito member of the Ojo Alamo Formation. The type and only species, Glyptodontopelta mimus, is known from numerous specimens that consist of osteoderms, a dentary, supraorbital and bone fragments. It was named in 2000 by Tracy Ford. Edmontonia australis is a junior synonym of Glyptodontopelta.

Discovery and naming

Fossils of Glyptodontopelta, consisting only of bony armor, were found in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The type species, Glyptodontopelta mimus, was described by Tracy Lee Ford in 2000. The holotype, USNM 8610, consists of three pieces of fused flat osteoderms, found in the Campanian-Maastrichtian Ojo Alamo Formation. It was concluded to be a dubious name, a nomen dubium, in a 2004 review of the Ankylosauria, but a 2008 publication by Michael Burns concurred with Ford that its armor was distinctive enough to consider it valid. Burns also assigned Glyptodontopelta to Nodosauridae — rejecting Ford's Stegopeltinae — and proposed that another armored taxon from New Mexico, Edmontonia australis, is a synonym of Glyptodontopelta mimus, based on analysis of armor size and shape. Most specimens referred to Glyptodontopelta comprise isolated osteoderms. The most complete known specimen, SMP VP-1580, comprises the distal part of a left lower jaw (dentary), a left supraorbital, and over a hundred osteoderms and fragments.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Glyptodontopelta

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Glyptodontopelta claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Glyptodontopelta before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Glyptodontopelta ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Glyptodontopelta

In research: Glyptodontopelta appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Glyptodontopelta in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Glyptodontopelta is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Dinosaur genera, Dinosaurs of the United States, Fossil taxa described in 2000, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Glyptodontopelta outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Glyptodontopelta in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Glyptodontopelta means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Glyptodontopelta out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Glyptodontopelta in simple terms?

Why does Glyptodontopelta matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Glyptodontopelta?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Glyptodontopelta.