Pronunciation: SI-no-SEPH-uh-lee
Meaning: Chinese head
Author/s: Evans et al. (2021)
Synonyms: See below
First Discovery: Nei Mongol, China
Discovery Chart Position: #1050
Sinocephale bexelli
(Bexel's Chinese Head)Etymology
Sinocephale is derived from the Latin "sino" (referring to China) and "cephale" (head).
The species epithet, bexelli, honours Gerhard Bexel who discovered the specimen during one of several Swedish Expeditions to China in the early part of the 20th Century. It was initially assigned to Troodon as Troodon bexelli by Birger Bohlin in 1953, then transferred to Stegoceras as Stegoceras bexelli by Oskar Kuhn in 1964.
Troodon bexelli (Bohlin, 1953)Stegoceras bexelli (Kuhn, 1964)
Discovery
The remains of Sinocephale were discovered in the Ulansuhai Formation at the Tsondolien-Khuduk Locality, Nei Mongol Autonomous Region, People's
Republic of China, by Gerhard Bexel between August 1930 and May 1931.
The holotype (a partial domed skull roof that was never assigned a specimen number) was returned to China's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology from Upsalla in Sweden where it had been taken for study, but was lost by the time Bohlin had published his scientific paper describing the specimen. However, two plastotypes (plaster casts of the long lost holotype fossil, made by Eric Ingemar Ståhl) were discovered, one at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH 2073) and the other at the Museum of Evolution of Uppsala University (PMU 23186) which allowed re-study in 2021.
