Sphaerotholus
Name:
Sphaerotholus.
Phonetic: Sfay-ro-fo-luss.
Named By: T. E. Carr & T. D.
Williamson - 2002.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornihischia, Marginocephalia, Pachycephalosauridae.
Species: S. goodwini
(type), S. edmontonensis, S. buchholtzae?
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain due to lack of fossil remains.
Known locations: Canada, Alberta - Horsehoe
Canyon Formation. USA, Montana - Hell Creek Formation, New
Mexico - Kirtland Formation.
Time period: Campanian/Maastrichtian of the
Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull domes.
A
genus of pachycephalosaurid
dinosaur, Sphaerotholus has been raising
a few questions as to its validity. The type species, S.
goodwini
is based upon only two very partial skull fossils. S.
edmontonensis
is based only upon three partial skull domes. This has led some to
speculate that the genus is dubious and indifferent to S.
goodwini,
though others contend that it can be differentiated from the S.
goodwini by a pair of hornlets on the back.
Of
most interest though is the species S. buchholtzae which has been
suggested to be synonymous with the genus Prenocephale
from Asia. If
this species of Sphaerotholus does actually
represent specimens of
Prenocephale, then this would make Prenocephale
the most
geographically widespread genus of pachycephalosaurid dinosaur so far
known to us. However, Sphaerotholus buchholtzae
is only known from
a partial skull, and the level of preservation of this skull makes it
very difficult to be certain if S. buchholtzae is
synonymous with
Prenocephale. If true however, then only this
species of
Sphaerotholus would be synonymous with Prenocephale,
and not the
whole genus as some have erroneously claimed. The only way the full
Sphaerotholus genus could be synonymised with Prenocephale
is if
specimens of the type species S. goodwini can be
definitively proven
to be the same as Prenocephale.
Further reading
- A study of the tro�dont dinosaurs with a description of a new genus
and four new species. - Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural
History 82(5): 115-149. - B. Brown & E. M.
Schlaikjer - 1943.
- A new genus of highly derived pachycephalosaurian from western
North America. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
22(4):779-801. - T. E. Carr & T. D.
Williamson
- 2002.
- Revision of the dinosaur Stegoceras Lambe
(Ornithischia,
Pachycephalosauridae). - Journal Of Vertebrate Paleontology
23 (1): 181–207. - Robert M. Sullivan - 2003.
- Texacephale langstoni, a new genus of
pachycephalosaurid
(Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the upper Campanian Aguja
Formation, southern Texas, USA. - Cretaceous Research 31:
274-284. Nicholas R. Longrich, Julia, T. Sankey &
Darren Tanke - 2010.
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