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. ==See also==