Europelta [SEP] parent taxon
is largely covered by a large single osteoderm on the frontal and parietal bones. The describing authors interpreted such osteoderms as ossified horn scales. On the rear corners of the skull squamosal horns are present. The large cheek horn is formed by the quadratojugal instead of the jugal bone.
Phylogeny.
"Europelta" was by its describers placed in the Nodosauridae, forming a smaller clade Struthiosaurinae together with the European nodosaurids "Anoplosaurus", "Hungarosaurus" and "Struthiosaurus".
"Europelta" was by the authors considered
" within the Nodosauridae. In the phylogenetic analysis conducted by the authors, "Borealopelta" nested within nodosaurids more derived than "Nodosaurus". The completed cladogram was a strict consensus is 480 different trees, each with slightly different results. In both strict consensus and majority rules cladograms "Borealopelta" nested with "Pawpawsaurus" and "Europelta" in a group of Albian nodosaurs, with "Hungarosaurus" being the next closest taxon. The phylogeny below displays the results of the strict consensus, excluding taxa outside Nodosauridae.
Paleobiology