Bissektipelta

Bissektipelta (meaning "Bissekty shield") is a genus of ankylosaurine thyreophoran dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. Bissektipelta is a monospecific genus, containing only the type species B. archibaldi. History of discovery In September 1998, the joint Uzbek-Russian-British-American-Project excavated the braincase of an ankylosaur. In 2002, Alexandr Averianov, based on this find, named a second species of the genus Amtosaurus: Amtosaurus archibaldi. The specific name honours James David Archibald, leading the URBAC (Uzbekistan, Russia, Britain, America, & Canada) project that performed the excavation. The holotype, ZIN PH 1/6, and only known specimen was collected from the Bissekty Formation, dating from the late Turonian-Coniacian, of Dzharakuduk. The holotype consists of a well-preserved, fully ossified braincase with a partial skull roof, along with isolated teeth and osteoderms. In 2004, Jolyon Parish and Paul Barrett concluded that the type species of Amtosaurus, Amtosaurus magnus, was a nomen dubium, a dubious name. This implied that no other species could be validly referred to the genus Amtosaurus. A. archibaldi should be reassigned to a new taxon. They renamed the genus as Bissektipelta with the generic name combining a reference to the geological formation with a Latin pelta (meaning small shield), which is derived from the Greek peltè (meaning shield). The type species is the original A. archibaldi but the new combination is Bissektipelta archibaldi.