Zavacephale rinpoche

Zavacephale is an extinct genus of pachycephalosaurian dinosaurs known from the Early Cretaceous Khuren Dukh Formation of Mongolia. The genus contains a single species, Zavacephale rinpoche, known from a partial articulated skeleton including a nearly complete skull. It is both the oldest definitive pachycephalosaur known, as well as the most complete. Its skull bears a well-developed dome structure, as seen in most members of the clade.

Zavacephale rinpoche

Eight heads serpent · 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
ZavacephalePBDB
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 most 20 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 119.57 Mya and 100.5 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Early Cretaceous — about 1 of 1 occurrenceEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 0 of 1 occurrence120–119 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences119–119 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences119–118 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences118–117 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences117–117 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences117–116 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences116–115 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences115–115 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences115–114 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences114–113 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences113–113 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences113–112 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences112–111 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences111–111 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences111–110 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences110–109 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences109–109 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences109–108 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences108–107 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences107–107 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences107–106 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences106–105 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences105–105 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences105–104 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences104–103 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences103–103 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences103–102 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences102–101 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences101–101 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences120.1 Mya100 Mya

1 occurrence of Zavacephale rinpoche on record, most of them in the Early 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

1 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

1 formation

Khuren Dukh — 45.85°N, 108.45°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Zavacephale rinpoche has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Zavacephale rinpoche and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Zavacephale rinpoche and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

No other named taxon is catalogued from that site.

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Zavacephale rinpoche, and this reads all of them.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Zavacephale rinpoche

Credit
Eight heads serpent
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Zavacephale rinpoche was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itZavacephale through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Chinzorig et al. 2025