Pachycephalosauridae

Pachycephalosauria is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs. Along with Ceratopsia, it makes up the clade Marginocephalia. Pachycephalosaurs lived exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere during the Cretaceous period, with all members being found in North America and Asia. They were all bipedal, herbivorous/omnivorous animals with thick skulls. Skulls can be domed, flat, or wedge-shaped depending on the species, and are all heavily ossified. The domes were often surrounded by nodes and/or spikes. Partial skeletons have been found of several pachycephalosaur species, but to date no complete skeletons have been discovered. Often isolated skull fragments are the only bones that are found.

Pachycephalosauridae

PaleoNeolitic (montage creator) Lewis Kelly Tylwyth Eldar Momotarou2012 FunkMonk · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PachycephalosauriaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ornithischia
Life habit
ground dwelling, gregariousPBDB, for Ornithischia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithischia
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Ornithischia

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 83.6 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 66 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 79 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 79 of 79 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 79 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences92–90 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences86–84 Mya — about 1 occurrence84–83 Mya — about 3 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 6 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 6 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 6 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 6 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 6 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 6 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 6 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 6 occurrences74–72 Mya — about 6 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 4 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 4 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 4 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 4 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 4 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 2 occurrences83.6 Mya72.2 Mya101.2 Mya65.3 Mya

79 occurrences of Pachycephalosauridae on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

79 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

22 formations

Oldman — 49.10°N, 110.94°WOldman — 49.08°N, 110.68°WOldman — 49.16°N, 110.72°WOldman — 50.75°N, 111.51°WOldman — 50.83°N, 111.32°WOldman — 50.73°N, 110.09°WOldman — 49.07°N, 110.45°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 45.78°N, 104.95°WHell Creek — 47.61°N, 106.90°WHell Creek — 46.41°N, 103.50°WHell Creek — 45.50°N, 103.10°WHell Creek — 45.64°N, 103.49°WHell Creek — 47.68°N, 107.18°WHell Creek — 47.05°N, 107.35°WDinosaur Park — 50.82°N, 111.60°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.47°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.50°WDinosaur Park — 50.84°N, 111.30°WDinosaur Park — 50.12°N, 111.47°WAguja — 29.32°N, 103.52°WAguja — 29.20°N, 103.20°WAguja — 29.10°N, 103.17°WAguja — 29.25°N, 103.25°WAguja — 29.20°N, 103.04°WForemost — 50.07°N, 111.14°WForemost — 49.13°N, 110.87°WForemost — 49.48°N, 111.37°WForemost — 49.83°N, 111.70°WForemost — 49.95°N, 111.42°WForemost — 49.60°N, 111.00°WTwo Medicine — 48.48°N, 112.70°WTwo Medicine — 48.94°N, 112.64°WTwo Medicine — 48.97°N, 112.64°WTwo Medicine — 48.48°N, 112.35°WFrenchman — 49.52°N, 108.82°WFrenchman — 49.34°N, 108.33°WFrenchman — 49.07°N, 106.58°WLance — 43.35°N, 104.48°WLance — 43.49°N, 104.46°WKirtland — 36.27°N, 108.17°WKirtland — 36.29°N, 108.55°WMilk River — 51.07°N, 112.65°WMilk River — 49.08°N, 111.44°WWapiti — 55.25°N, 118.51°WSan Carlos — 30.46°N, 104.71°WFruitland — 36.49°N, 108.51°WNemegt — 43.49°N, 101.28°EUlansuhai — 41.43°N, 103.54°EPrince Creek — 69.92°N, 151.19°WBaynshire — 43.56°N, 107.91°EBearpaw Shale — 49.07°N, 110.45°WBaruungoyot — 43.50°N, 101.13°EAguja — 28.83°N, 103.30°WWahweap — 37.24°N, 111.65°WHorseshoe Canyon — 51.67°N, 112.91°W

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The named rock units Pachycephalosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pachycephalosauridae and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Pachycephalosauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

332 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 76 sites for Pachycephalosauridae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

38 references

Each of the 79 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 26 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Pachycephalosauridae

Credit
PaleoNeolitic (montage creator) Lewis Kelly Tylwyth Eldar Momotarou2012 FunkMonk
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Pachycephalosauridae indet. · CMN:CMNFV:22039

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPachycephalosauria through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Sternberg 1945