Prenocephale
| Prenocephale | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reconstruction of Prenocephale |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Cretaceous (late Campanium to early Maastrichtian ) | ||||||||||||
| 76.4 to 69.9 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Prenocephale | ||||||||||||
| Maryańska & Osmólska , 1974 |
Prenocephale is a genus of the bird pelvic dinosaur (Ornithischia) from the group of the Pachycephalosauria . The only species described is P. prenes .
features
A complete skull and parts of the body skeleton are known from Prenocephale , so it is one of the better preserved pachycephalosaurs. With an estimated length of 2.4 meters, it is one of the smaller representatives of this group. As with all pachycephalosaurs, the thickened skull roof was characteristic. This consisted of the frontal and parietal bones that had grown together to form the frontoparietal . The roof of the skull was arched, so Prenocephale is one of the dome-headed pachycephalosaurs, the upper skull windows of the temporal region were closed. On the side and back of the squamous bone (squamosum) was a row of bony bumps, and there were bony bumps in the eye socket and on the nasal bone. The function of this thickened skull roof is still controversial, it is unclear whether it was used for ramming against the head or torso of the opponent or whether it was only used for display. (See Function of the Skull Roof in Pachycephalosauria .)
On the intermaxillary bone (premaxillary, the foremost part of the upper jaw) there were three canine-like, slightly curved teeth, of which the third was the largest. Behind it there was a gap, the teeth of the upper jaw wore triangular, slightly jagged crowns. Like all pachycephalosaurs, Prenocephale is likely to have had a mainly vegetable diet, possibly supplemented by insects.
This dinosaur moved biped (two-footed), the hind legs were significantly longer than the front legs. The pool was built very wide, as with all Pachycephalosauriern.
Discovery and systematics
Fossil remains of Prenocephale come from the province of Ömnö-Gobi-Aimag in Mongolia and were first described in 1974 by Maryańska and Osmólska . The name is derived from the Greek words prenes (= "inclined, crooked") and kephale (= "head"), a common part of the name of pachycephalosaurs. Type species is P. prenes . The find is dated in the Upper Cretaceous (late Campanium to early Maastrichtian ) to an age of about 76 to 69 million years.
While many works with P. prenes only recognize one species, R. Sullivan includes three other species in the genus Prenocephale : P. brevis and P. edmontonensis (which are usually included in Stegoceras ) and P. goodwini (which is usually in its own Genus Sphaerotholus ). This would add three North American taxa to this genus, which would expand the geographical and temporal spread of Prenocephale .
literature
- Teresa Maryańska , Ralph E. Chapman, David B. Weishampel : Pachycephalosauria. In: David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson , Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria . 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 464-477.
- 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) .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , pp. 242-243, online .