Acrotholus
From Greek 'akros' meaning 'highest' and 'tholos' meaning 'dome', referring to its prominent domed skull.
Acrotholus is an extinct genus of pachycephalosaurian dinosaur that lived during the Santonian of the late Cretaceous, in the Milk River Formation of Canada. The type species, A. audeti, was named after Roy Audet, who allowed access to Audet's ranch, which led to the discovery of the species. The discovery of this specimen lead to several new revelations in the fossil records questioning the preservation of small-bodied organisms along with the evolution of early pachycephalosaurs. The iconic cranial dome found on Acrotholus makes it one of the earliest indisputable known members of the pachycephalosaur family. Like others of its clade, Acrotholus was a bipedal herbivore characterized by a dome-shaped head. The dome had often been associated with intra-species combat, although the exact methods of contact have been debated.
Diagnosis
- Ovoid dome in dorsal view in which the width of the frontoparietal dome is less than two thirds its total length
- Distinct midline ridge on the dorsal surface of the posteromedian process of the parietal
Species
Acrotholus audeti Evans et al., 2013
Type species
Named for Roy Audet, who granted access to Audet's ranch, leading to the discovery of the species.
- Holotype
- TMP 2008.045.0001 , Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology
- Material
- Nearly complete frontoparietal dome
- Horizon
- Deadhorse Coulee Member, Milk River Formation, Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 85.7–83.6 million years ago
- Locality
- Roy Audet's ranch, 1.5 km east of Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada
References
- Evans, D. C.; Schott, R. K.; Larson, D. W.; Brown, C. M.; Ryan, M. J. (2013). The oldest North American pachycephalosaurid and the hidden diversity of small-bodied ornithischian dinosaurs. Nature Communications 4(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/ncomms2749 evans2013b