Dongyangopelta

Dongyangopelta (meaning "Dongyang shield") is an monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur that lived in China during the Early to Late Cretaceous period (Albian to Cenomanian stages, 105-96 Ma) in what is now the Chaochuan Formation. The type and only known species, Dongyangopelta yangyanensis, is known from a partial postcranial skeleton preserving osteoderms and ossified tendons. It was named in 2013 by Rongjun Chen, Wenjie Zheng, Yoichi Azuma, Masateru Shibata, Tianling Lou, Qiang Jin and Xinsheng Jin. Dongyangopelta represents one of the only nodosaurids known from Asia, along with Taohelong and Sauroplites.

==Discovery and naming== In October 2009, a partial skeleton of an ankylosaur was discovered by Zhiwei Yang in rocks of the Chaochuan Formation, in a hillside beside the Yangyan Village southeast of the Donyang City, Zhejiang Province, China. Subsequently, a joint excavation to retrieve the skeleton was conducted from September to October 2010 by a number of institutes such as the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, Dongyang Museum, Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hydrogeological Engineering Geological Brigade of Zhejiang Province. Notable individuals involved in the excavation and preparation of the specimen include Chaohe Yu and Guangming Luo. The Chaochuan Formation consists of purplish sandstones with interbedded igneous rock, while the layer bearing the partial skeleton consists of brown sandstone that lie in between gray igneous rocks. The layer dates to the Albian to Cenomanian stages of the Early to Late Cretaceous, 105 to 96 Ma.