New spanish basal nodosaurid: Europelta carbonensis

Scott Hartman's skeletal on Europelta suggests a struthiosaurine at a possible guess of 750-1000kg.

Scott Hartman guestimated ~750-1000kg.

Yeah, it sounds very spot on. That is around the size of Bos gaurus.

Nice to know we have another Ankylosaurid in Europe.

About the armour of Europelta:
'In this case there are quite a few differences between the armor I've restored here and that published in the original description. I've spoken with Jim and Mark and they actually already updated some of the discrepancies (in the paper they only show two rows of armor scutes on the neck, but it should have shown three). That's not a knock on Mark's efforts - restoring the armor of ankylosaurs can be a ridiculous test of your patience and organizational skills. Not too long ago when reconstructing Scelidosaurus I ran into similar problems, and eventually resorted to coloring in each individual scute as I drew them (coded by row) to keep the whole thing straight. And in that case I was working from an articulated specimen with the armor intact!

Despite those updates, there are still some differences in how I've reconstructed the armor. First and foremost I've simply reconstructed Europelta as being more flat-topped (and possibly somewhat wider) than Mark has. This has the effect of moving more of the scutes "upwards" on the body, onto the top of the back (rather than curving down the sides). This is more inline with articulated skeletons of other ankylosaurs, but of course basal ankylosaurs and nodosaurs are generally not known from fully-articulated skeletons, so this isn't a cut-and-dried assumption (I favor it, but clearly it's not universal).

DESPERATE MEASURES WERE TAKEN WHEN RECONSTRUCTING THE ARMOR OF SCELIDOSAURUS.

Second, Mark's version shows the small armor scales going further down the body, especially in the shoulder region. This may be totally correct. When restoring Edmontonia I and others generally stop illustrating the armor scales at the level of the lowest armor scutes. This appears to make sense since the famous articulated AMNH Edmontonia specimen shows exactly this. BUT! It still may not be correct, as there simply isn't preserved skin below that area (i.e. the specimen was excavated down to the skeleton below the scutes). Thus it's certainly possible that the small armor scales could have continued further down the body or limbs, and I know at least a couple of ankylosaur workers who feel that the taphonomy of some sites supports this very thing.

If that turns out to be the case, then the armor scales may not have a well-defined border as is commonly shown in most reconstructions. Indeed, there is little reason to think that the armor scales (or even the larger scutes) had a color that was massively different from the rest of the animal - in animals today with such scutes (such as alligators) there is no clear-cut differentiation in the coloration of the living animal. Something to think about the next time you try your hand at illustrating an ankylosaur.'