Alaskacephale
| Alaskacephale | ||||||||||||
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Graphic representation of Alaskacephale |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Cretaceous (late Campanium ) | ||||||||||||
| 76.4 to 72 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Alaskacephale | ||||||||||||
| Sullivan , 2006 |
Alaskacephale is a little known genus of the bird pelvic dinosaur (Ornithischia) from the group of the Pachycephalosauria . The only species described is A. gangloffi .
From alaskacephale has only been an almost complete left Scale Leg (squamosal) - a skull - known. As with all pachycephalosaurs, this has small bony bumps. However, it differs from other dinosaurs in this group in that there are two rows of cusps that are slightly apart, and the cusps have a polygonal base and a clear point. Otherwise nothing is known about this dinosaur.
The fossil remains of Alaskacephale were found in the Prince Creek Formation in the US state of Alaska and were reported by Roland Gangloff et al. First described in 2005 as a nameless pachycephalosaur. In 2006 Robert Sullivan coined the generic name Alaskacephale , which is derived from the place where it was found and the Greek kephalē (= "head"), a common part of the name of pachycephalosaurs. Type species is A. gangloffi . The finds are dated in the Upper Cretaceous (upper Campanium ) to an age of approx. 76 to 72 million years.
literature
- Robert M. Sullivan: A taxonomic review of the Pachycephalosauridae (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). In: Spencer G. Lucas, Robert M. Sullivan (Eds.): Late Cretaceous Vertebrates from the Western Interior (= New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Bulletin. 35, ISSN 1524-4156 ). New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque NM 2006, pp. 347–365, digital version (PDF; 4.79 MB) .