Alaskacephale
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Extinct (fossil)
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| Alaskacephale gangloffi Sullivan, 2006 |
Alaskacephale gangloffi was a pachycephalosaur that lived in the late Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. It was named by Robert Sullivan in 2006. The genus name refers to Alaska where the fossil was found in the Prince Creek Formation and to pachycephalosaurs in general. The species name honours paleontologist Roland Gangloff. The only known specimen of A. gangloffi is the holotype, a nearly complete left squamosal with a characteristic array of polygonal nodes. The dimensions of this bone suggest that A. gangloffi was about half the size of Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis or three quarters the size of Prenocephale prenes, and about the same size as Prenocephale edmontonensis and Prenocephale brevis (Gangloff et al. 2005).
The specimen was previously described by Gangloff et al. (2005) as an unnamed pachycephalosaurine, possibly referrable to Pachycephalosaurus. Gangloff et al. described the squamosal as having a suture with the quadrate, a feature previously described only in Pachycephalosaurus. Sullivan (2006) opined that this "suture" is instead a breakage point in both Alaskacephale and Pachycephalosaurus, so it could not be used to unite the two taxa.
[edit] References
- Gangloff, R.A., A.R. Fiorillo & D.W. Norton, 2005. The first pachycephalosaurine (Dinosauria) from the Paleo-Arctic of Alaska and its paleogeographic implications. Journal of Paleontology 79: 997-1001.
- Sullivan, R.M., 2006. A taxonomic review of the Pachycephalosauridae (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 35: 347-365.
