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EXHIBIT 176

Cedarpelta

Cedarpelta bilbeyhallorum

Cedarpelta was a large armored plant eater with an elongate skull and comparatively subdued cranial ornament. [4]

Evidence profile

TWO WAYS TO PICTURE THE PAST

Compare the evidence with the familiar movie image. The illustrations are not to a shared scale.

01 / SKELETAL RECONSTRUCTION

A framework from the fossils

Restored Cedarpelta bilbeyhallorum skull display at the Prehistoric Museum, labeled CEUM 12360.

Museum display of C. bilbeyhallorum, labeled CEUM 12360, with original bone and extensive restoration visible. Published reconstruction combined two incomplete immature skulls and restored missing regions comparatively; it is not one complete excavated skull. Living colors and soft tissues are unknown. [4]

Cedarpelta.jpg · ケラトプスユウタ. CC BY-SA 4.0. Proportional resizing and WebP conversion; no anatomy edits.

Skeletal mounts and drawings may restore missing parts; the caption identifies the displayed material.

02 / MOVIE-STYLE INTERPRETATION

A cinematic imagination

Illustrative reconstruction of Cedarpelta bilbeyhallorum; colors, soft tissues and missing anatomy remain interpretive.

Original cinematic interpretation of Cedarpelta. Incomplete skull and postcranial material guide this reconstruction. Beak, complete armor layout and simple tail tip restore missing regions; a club is not assumed or ruled out by this image. Colors, lighting and scenery are artistic choices; this is not directly observed behavior. Lighting, coloration and scenery are artistic choices. This image does not document a fossil locality or behavior.

Original artwork · artistic interpretation.

Scientific view: source-informed reconstruction, credited paleoart or specimen-based imagery. Movie-style view: Original artistic interpretation. Reconstructions involve uncertainty.

PERIODEarly Cretaceous[2]
DIETHerbivoreEvidence and uncertainty in the dossier
TOTAL LENGTHSee the dossierEstimate scope matters
FOSSILS FOUNDUtah, USA[2]
CompareRead the dossierView the sources

MEET THE ANIMAL

Meet Cedarpelta

Cedarpelta was an armored dinosaur from Early Cretaceous Utah. Later fieldwork places its quarries in the upper Ruby Ranch part of the Cedar Mountain Formation. Two large skulls were interpreted as juvenile, and several kinds of dinosaur occurred in the deposits. Large fossil size and skeletal maturity are therefore separate questions; a substantial skull need not belong to a fully grown animal. [D2]

Its skull was elongated and only modestly ornamented compared with more elaborately armored relatives. No associated complete tail club is established in the reviewed evidence. This lack of evidence should not be converted into proof that every Cedarpelta lacked a club, or replaced with a familiar club simply to complete an illustration. [D4]

The referred body bones include robust limbs that support a four-legged reconstruction by comparison with other ankylosaurs. However, missing regions still require restoration. The surviving bones do not measure running speed or show an exact walking rhythm. An individual mass model is also not established by the reviewed description, so a rendered body cannot be treated as a directly measured weight. [D1]

PREHISTORIC ANIMAL DOSSIER

A life in profile.

The animal, the evidence, and the questions still open.

The fossils document an unusual armored dinosaur, but an associated complete tail club is not established. Relationships within Ankylosauria remain sensitive to analysis. [D1] [D6]

Profile scope: C. bilbeyhallorum: incomplete juvenile skulls and referred postcrania from Utah’s Price River quarries; reconstructions combine material and restore missing anatomy. [D2] [D3]

Time
Early Cretaceous
Fossil locations in this exhibit
Utah, USA
How to read the evidence

Source supported identifies a description documented by the cited source. Inferred marks a reconstruction or functional estimate. Debated marks competing interpretations. Not established means the sources reviewed for this dossier do not support a firm conclusion; it does not mean a behavior never occurred.

A size reference is an estimate, not a population range. Nesting evidence does not by itself establish courtship, mate choice, or lifelong pairing.

Length

Inferred

About 10 m; museum reference

The educational reconstruction lacks specimen, life-stage and method details. It is not a directly measured adult or species range. [D5]

Body mass

Not established

Not established here

The reviewed postcranial description supplies no clearly scoped individual mass model; skull/body composites cannot establish weight directly. [D1]

Diet

Inferred

Plant eater

Museum and survey accounts identify herbivory. Exact food plants, gut contents and feeding height are not established here. [D4] [D5]

Time and habitat

Source supported

Albian upper Ruby Ranch Member, Utah

The 2016 field study places the quarries in Cedar Mountain Formation’s upper Ruby Ranch succession, revising the older basal-Mussentuchit assignment. [D2]

Locomotion

Inferred

Probably quadrupedal

Referred robust limbs and ankylosaur relationships support a four-legged reconstruction. Genus-identified tracks and speed are not established. [D1]

Distinctive anatomy

Source supported

Elongate skull; modest cranial ornament

The survey emphasizes a weakly ornamented skull and straight ischium. Lack of tail-club evidence does not prove every individual lacked one. [D4]

Reproduction & life together

Reproduction and nesting

Not established

Not established here

Both skulls retain sutures interpreted as incomplete maturity. This does not establish sexual maturity, sex, nests or parental care. [D3]

Courtship and mating

Not established

Not established here

Cranial ornament and a hypothetically restored tail do not demonstrate display, mate choice or sex differences. No mating evidence is established. [D4]

Social behavior

Not established

Not established here

Several individuals and dinosaur kinds occur in the quarries. Disarticulated association alone does not establish a Cedarpelta herd or family group. [D2]

Dossier research & sources

Sources and inspection notes for the claims in this profile.

  1. Ankylosaurs from the Price River Quarries, Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous), East-Central UtahJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology; Carpenter, Bartlett, Bird and Barrick (2008) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original author-uploaded full article text/figures inspected: type/referrals and postcrania. Older basal-Mussentuchit assignment superseded by inspected 2016 upper-Ruby-Ranch interpretation. No a priori tail-club evidence. · Inspected: page
  2. The Lower Cretaceous in East-Central Utah—The Cedar Mountain Formation and its Bounding StrataGeology of the Intermountain West; Kirkland, Suarez, Suarez and Hunt-Foster (2016), original published PDF mirror · Accessed 2026-10-02Original field study pp 151–153 and Fig 30 inspected: Albian upper Ruby Ranch quarries, two large juvenile disarticulated skulls and referred postcrania; several dinosaur taxa/individuals. · Inspected: page
  3. The reconstruction of three ankylosaurids from the Cedar Mountain Formation of eastern UtahSociety of Vertebrate Paleontology/JVP 23 supplement; Bird, Burge and Carpenter (2003) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original conference abstract, PDFp 36, inspected: composite of two skulls, mirrored/comparatively restored missing bones, sutures indicating incomplete maturity; reconstructed skull 50cm. · Inspected: abstract
  4. Utah’s Prehistoric Tanks: The AnkylosaursUtah Geological Survey; Kirkland and Loewen (September 2011) · Accessed 2026-10-02Institutional account inspected: plant-eating ankylosaurs, weakly ornamented elongate Cedarpelta skull, straight ischium and no tail-club evidence. · Inspected: page
  5. CedarpeltaNatural History Museum, London · Accessed 2026-10-02Museum profile inspected for 10 m educational length and herbivory only; specimen/method/maturity unspecified. Its obsolete numerical age is not adopted. · Inspected: page
  6. The phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of the armoured dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora)Journal of Systematic Palaeontology; Raven, Maidment and Barrett (2023), institutional accepted manuscript · Accessed 2026-10-02Original manuscript pp 42–43 inspected: Cedarpelta retained, family placement unstable. Not automatically a crown ankylosaurid with a club. · Inspected: page

THE STORY IN THE FOSSILS

Meet Cedarpelta

The reconstructed skull combines information from two incomplete skulls. Missing parts were mirrored or restored comparatively, so it is not a single complete skull exactly as excavated. [3]

Later fieldwork identifies the type skulls as large juveniles in an Albian assemblage. Size, skeletal maturity and reproductive adulthood are separate questions that a large fossil alone cannot settle. [2]

A note on scale and time

The dossier identifies the scope of each reference estimate. A mount, an individual fossil and a species-wide adult range are different measurements. Comparison metrics remain unavailable where adult scope has not been established. Unknown does not mean zero.

Sources & editorial notes

Sources support the stated claims and scopes. Refer to the evidence notes for uncertainty.

  1. Ankylosaurs from the Price River Quarries, Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous), East-Central UtahJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology; Carpenter, Bartlett, Bird and Barrick (2008) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original author-uploaded full article text/figures inspected: type/referrals and postcrania. Older basal-Mussentuchit assignment superseded by inspected 2016 upper-Ruby-Ranch interpretation. No a priori tail-club evidence. · Inspected: page
  2. The Lower Cretaceous in East-Central Utah—The Cedar Mountain Formation and its Bounding StrataGeology of the Intermountain West; Kirkland, Suarez, Suarez and Hunt-Foster (2016), original published PDF mirror · Accessed 2026-10-02Original field study pp 151–153 and Fig 30 inspected: Albian upper Ruby Ranch quarries, two large juvenile disarticulated skulls and referred postcrania; several dinosaur taxa/individuals. · Inspected: page
  3. The reconstruction of three ankylosaurids from the Cedar Mountain Formation of eastern UtahSociety of Vertebrate Paleontology/JVP 23 supplement; Bird, Burge and Carpenter (2003) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original conference abstract, PDFp 36, inspected: composite of two skulls, mirrored/comparatively restored missing bones, sutures indicating incomplete maturity; reconstructed skull 50cm. · Inspected: abstract
  4. Utah’s Prehistoric Tanks: The AnkylosaursUtah Geological Survey; Kirkland and Loewen (September 2011) · Accessed 2026-10-02Institutional account inspected: plant-eating ankylosaurs, weakly ornamented elongate Cedarpelta skull, straight ischium and no tail-club evidence. · Inspected: page
  5. CedarpeltaNatural History Museum, London · Accessed 2026-10-02Museum profile inspected for 10 m educational length and herbivory only; specimen/method/maturity unspecified. Its obsolete numerical age is not adopted. · Inspected: page
  6. The phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of the armoured dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora)Journal of Systematic Palaeontology; Raven, Maidment and Barrett (2023), institutional accepted manuscript · Accessed 2026-10-02Original manuscript pp 42–43 inspected: Cedarpelta retained, family placement unstable. Not automatically a crown ankylosaurid with a club. · Inspected: page

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