Dinosaur with protrusion from back of head

Parasaurolophus meaning "near crested lizard" in reference to Saurolophus is an extinct genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period]] of what is now North America, about million years ago. It was a herbivore that walked both as a biped and a quadruped.

Ceratopsians came in many shapes and sizes. Ceratopsians— the horned, frilled dinosaurs—were some of the most common plant-eaters of the later Mesozoic Era. Explore pictures and detailed profiles of over 60 ceratopsian dinosaurs, ranging from A Achelousaurus to Z Zuniceratops. Woodlands of North America. Historical Period:. Late Cretaceous million years ago.

Dinosaur with protrusion from back of head

The type species , P. It lived during the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period in what is now western North America. More complete fossils would come to be found in the following years. Pachycephalosaurus was among the last species of non-avian dinosaurs on Earth before the Cretaceous—Paleogene extinction event. The genus Tylosteus has been synonymized with Pachycephalosaurus , as have the genera Stygimoloch and Dracorex , in recent studies. Like other pachycephalosaurids, Pachycephalosaurus was a bipedal herbivore , possessing long, strong legs and somewhat small arms with five-fingered hands. This hypothesis has actually been highly disputed in recent years. Remains attributable to Pachycephalosaurus may have been found as early as the s. As determined by Donald Baird , in or , Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden , an early fossil collector in the American West, collected a bone fragment in the vicinity of the head of the Missouri River , from what is now known to be the Lance Formation of southeastern Montana. Its actual nature was not revealed until Baird studied it again over a century later and identified it as a squamosal bone from the back of the skull of Pachycephalosaurus , including a set of bony knobs corresponding to those found on other specimens of Pachycephalosaurus.

Computer modeling of a well-preserved specimen of P. S2CID Historical Period:.

Find out about its size, habitat, diet and more! Parasaurolophus had a broad flat mouth that looked like a duck's beak. It was a very unusual looking dinosaur :. This site contains affiliate links. Please read my advertising disclosure. Dinosaur Activity Pack. Dinosaur Coloring!

The Evolution and Behavior of Pachycephalosaur Dinosaurs. Pachycephalosaurs Greek for "thick-headed lizards" were an unusually small family of dinosaurs with an unusually high entertainment value. As you can guess from their name, these two-legged herbivores were distinguished by their skulls, which ranged from the mildly thick in early genera like Wannanosaurus to the truly dense in later genera like Stegoceras. Some later pachycephalosaurs sported almost a foot of solid, albeit slightly porous, bone on top of their heads! See a gallery of bone-headed dinosaur pictures and profiles. However, it's important to understand that big heads, in this case, didn't translate into equally big brains. Pachycephalosaurs were about as bright as the other plant-eating dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous period which is a polite way of saying "not very" ; their closest relatives, the ceratopsians , or horned, frilled dinosaurs, weren't exactly nature's A students, either. So of all the possible reasons pachycephalosaurs evolved such thick skulls, protecting their extra-big brains certainly wasn't one of them. Based on the available fossil evidence, paleontologists believe that the very first pachycephalosaurs--such as Wannanosaurus and Goyocephale--arose in Asia about 85 million years ago, only 20 million years before the dinosaurs went extinct.

Dinosaur with protrusion from back of head

Everyone knows Pachycephalosaurus , that bipedal dome-head that ran around head-butting other dinosaurs all day long, but few people ever stop and give it much thought beyond that. This is an odd group of dinosaurs, with Pachycephalosaurus being the largest so far yet perhaps not the strangest. Like their basal ornithischian ancestors, pachycephalosaurs were bipedal, never attainting giant quadruped morphs like all other bird-hipped dinosaur lineages eventually did. The most common part of them to fossilize is their skulls, especially the gnarly spikes and dense, bony dome that crowned the heads of these animals. Not all species in this family had domed heads, mind you, as this feature gradually became more and more prominent throughout the evolution of the group.

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Miscellaneous Publication , UtahGeological Survey : 1— Most likely, Styracosaurus males with more elaborate frills were more attractive to the females of the genus. If this species is indeed inside Parasaurolophus , then the genus therefore lasted until the K-Pg extinction and is known from two continents. Referred to Parasaurolophus sp. About 10 feet long and tons. The main thing that distinguishes Achelousaurus from its close relative, Pachyrhinosaurus, is the smaller, bony knobs over its eyes and nose; this gentle herbivore also bore a close resemblance to another ceratopsian, Einiosaurus. Additionally, a fourth species, P. About 12 feet long and tons. Using computed tomography of this skull, Robert Sullivan and Thomas Williamson gave the genus a monographic treatment in that covered aspects of its anatomy and taxonomy, as well as the functions of its crest. With files from the Homestretch. Here's how Having very small, ridged teeth, they could not have chewed tough, fibrous plants like flowering shrubs as effectively as other dinosaurs of the same period.

Imagine you are hunting fossils, finding a fossil skull, some rib bones, and thigh bones.

Bibcode : CaJES.. Small size; bipedal posture; beaked snout. Ornate frill; horn on snout. Tools Tools. Geological Society of America Special Paper Struthiomimus , Ornithopoda ,? They named two species: Pachycephalosaurus grangeri , the type species of their new genus, and Pachycephalosaurus reinheimeri. Ceratopsians came in many shapes and sizes. Due to their unique head ornamentation, they were seen as separate species for a number of years. There's no way that crest could have been a piercing horn or battering ram. William Morrow. It was a very unusual looking dinosaur :.