The specific name honours James David Archibald, leading the URBAC (Uzbekistan, Russia, Britain, America, & Canada) project that performed the excavation.
[1] The holotype specimen, ZIN PH 1/6, was collected from the Bissekty Formation, dating from the late Turonian-Coniacian, of Dzharakuduk.
On the top skull roof grooves are present, together forming a truncated "Y" and separating three polygonal areas of flat remodelled bone tissue.
It also has a more limited angle of 90° between the ventral surfaces of the basioccipital and the basisphenoid, and more caudally, to the rear, situated basipterygoid processes.
[4][5] Based on numerous cranial traits, Kuzmin and colleagues have placed Bissektipelta within the advanced Ankylosaurinae in a basal position and confirmed its valid taxonomic status.
[3] In 2019, Alifanov and Saveliev redescribed the braincase noting that Bissektipelta had a well-developed olfaction, poor hearing and eyesight, good taste sensitivity, omnivorous diet and the unusual ability for filter-feeding.