Pachycephalosaurus

Genus of ornithischian dinosaur

Pachycephalosaurus was a genus of dinosaur which lived during the last five million years of the Upper Cretaceous. It lived in what is now North America.[2]

Pachycephalosaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian), 70–66 Ma
Cast of the "Sandy" specimen, Royal Ontario Museum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Pachycephalosauria
Family: Pachycephalosauridae
Tribe: Pachycephalosaurini
Genus: Pachycephalosaurus
Brown & Schlaikjer, 1943
Type species
Troodon wyomingensis
Gilmore, 1931
Species
  • P. wyomingensis
    (Gilmore, 1931) (conserved name)
  • P. spinifer?
    (Galton & Sues, 1983)
Synonyms
List
  • Tylosteus ornatus
    Leidy, 1872 (rejected name)
  • Troodon wyomingensis
    Gilmore, 1931
  • Pachycephalosaurus grangeri
    Brown & Schlaikjer, 1943
  • Pachycephalosaurus reinheimeri
    Brown & Schlaikjer, 1943
  • Stenotholus kohleri
    Giffin, Gabriel & Johnson, 1988[1]
  • Stygimoloch spinifer?
    Galton & Sues, 1983
  • Dracorex hogwartsia?
    Bakker et al., 2006

This member of the Pachycephalosaurid family is known from a single skull and a few thick skull roofs. From this it is estimated that its length was about 4.5 to 5 metres long (about 15 feet).

Pachycephalosaurus was a herbivore. It lived on a mixed diet of leaves, seeds, and fruit. The sharp, serrated teeth would have been very effective for shredding plants.[3]

Skeletal mount of Pachycephalosaurus

References change

  1. Giffin, Emily B.; Gabriel, Diane L.; Johnson, Rolf E. (22 January 1988). "A New Pachycephalosaurid Hell Creek Formation of Montana". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 7 (4). Taylor & Francis, Ltd.: 398–407. doi:10.1080/02724634.1988.10011672. JSTOR 4523163. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  2. Giffin, Emily B; Gabriel, Diane L; Johnson Rolf E. 1988. A new Pachycephalosaurid: Hell Creek Formation of Montana. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 7 (4): 398–407.
  3. The dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. 2004. ISBN 978-0-520-94143-4. OCLC 801843269.