Open Paleo

Foraminacephale

Schott & Evans, 2016 fo-RAM-i-nuh-SEF-uh-lee

From Latin foramina (holes/openings) + Greek kephale (head): 'foramina head', referring to the many small pits (foramina) on the surface of its pachycephalosaurid dome.

83.6–72.2 million years ago Campanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Foraminacephale is a genus of pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from Late Cretaceous (Campanian stage) deposits of Canada.

Diagnosis

  1. Tall, smooth squamosal bar with a single row of six nodes in the primary node row.
  2. Single small corner node just ventral to the primary node row on the squamosal.
  3. Dorsal surface of frontoparietal and associated peripheral elements covered with small dorsoventrally orientated foramina resulting in a distinct pitted surface texture.

Species

Foraminacephale brevis Schott & Evans, 2016

Type species

From Latin 'brevis' meaning 'short', originally applied when the species was named Stegoceras brevis by Lawrence Lambe in 1918.

Holotype
CMN 1423 , Canadian Museum of Nature
Material
Fairly complete frontoparietal dome missing the anterior portion of the frontonasal boss.
Horizon
Dinosaur Park Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
east side of Red Deer River below Berry Creek, Alberta, Canada Sullivan (2003) assigns the holotype to the Oldman Formation, where Schott and Evans (2016) place it in the Dinosaur Park.

References

  1. Schott, R. K.; Evans, D. C. (2016). Cranial variation and systematics of Foraminacephale brevis gen. nov. and the diversity of pachycephalosaurid dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Cerapoda) in the Belly River Group of Alberta, Canada. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1111/zoj.12465 schott2016a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the appearance features.

    jones2026a
  3. Brown, B.; Schlaikjer, E. M. (1943). A study of the troödont dinosaurs with the description of a new genus and four new species. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 82(5): 115-150.

    Records the holotype's site as the east side of the Red Deer River below Berry Creek, collected by L. M. Lambe in 1901.

    brown1943a
  4. Sullivan, R. M. (2003). Revision of the dinosaur Stegoceras Lambe (Ornithischia, Pachycephalosauridae). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(1): 181-207. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2003)23[181:rotdsl]2.0.co;2 sullivan2003b