Pronunciation: tek-sa-SEH-fuh-lee
Meaning: Texas head
Author/s: Longrich, Sankey and Tanke (2010)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Big Bend, Texas
Discovery Chart Position: #716
Texacephale langstoni
At first glance, Texacephale seemed to be just another specimen of Stegoceras: a bone-headed pachycephalosaurid dinosaur that Lawrence Lambe named in 1902. Fortunately, if you're going to be comparing boneheads, there's no substitute for a bone head in hand, and further analysis of Texacephale's gnarly skull dome (the most complete pachycephalosaur fossil ever found in Texas), revealed a few unique features.
As well as being as thick as a brick, its dome was adorned with half a dozen vertical flanges on each side. Presumably, these bony ribs would have slotted into corresponding grooves on the skull proper and may have acted as shock absorbers if pachycephalosaurids did, as is often suggested, participate in machismo-driven head-to-head ramming contests for mating rights a'la musk oxen and bighorn sheep.
The discovery of Texacephale in coastal marsh deposits by Darren Tanke in 2008 proved that pachycephalosaurs were not restricted to inland habitats as once thought. Furthermore, a tentative hypothesis turned the theory of an Asian origin for the Pachycephalosauria family on its head, as the older, more basal models all hail from North America.
The author's analysis also stopped just short of ruling out Dracorex hogwartsi and Stygimoloch spinifer as distinct taxa, which is as good as good news for awesomely-named-dinosaur aficionados. With a never-ending troupe of mundane place-name-saurus marching from the woodwork, it would be a shame to lose two critters whose names actually involved a bit of creative thinking.
In 2011, Jasinski and Sullivan brutally dismissed the holotype of Texacephale as an indeterminate pachycephalosaurid with no diognostic features, and ditto for a referred skull dome. But at the same time, they also noted that the two specimens bear a strong resemblance to each other and may represent the same taxon. Go figure.
As well as being as thick as a brick, its dome was adorned with half a dozen vertical flanges on each side. Presumably, these bony ribs would have slotted into corresponding grooves on the skull proper and may have acted as shock absorbers if pachycephalosaurids did, as is often suggested, participate in machismo-driven head-to-head ramming contests for mating rights a'la musk oxen and bighorn sheep.
The discovery of Texacephale in coastal marsh deposits by Darren Tanke in 2008 proved that pachycephalosaurs were not restricted to inland habitats as once thought. Furthermore, a tentative hypothesis turned the theory of an Asian origin for the Pachycephalosauria family on its head, as the older, more basal models all hail from North America.
The author's analysis also stopped just short of ruling out Dracorex hogwartsi and Stygimoloch spinifer as distinct taxa, which is as good as good news for awesomely-named-dinosaur aficionados. With a never-ending troupe of mundane place-name-saurus marching from the woodwork, it would be a shame to lose two critters whose names actually involved a bit of creative thinking.
In 2011, Jasinski and Sullivan brutally dismissed the holotype of Texacephale as an indeterminate pachycephalosaurid with no diognostic features, and ditto for a referred skull dome. But at the same time, they also noted that the two specimens bear a strong resemblance to each other and may represent the same taxon. Go figure.
Etymology
Texacephale is derived from "Texas" (its state of origin) and the Greek "cephale" (head). The species epithet, langstoni, honors Wann Langston, for his contributions to the vertebrate palaeontology of the Big Bend region.
Discovery
The remains of Texacephale were discovered at "Talley Mountain" (site WPA-1) in the Upper Shale member of the Aguja Formation, Big Bend National Park, Brewster County, Texas, USA, in 2008 by Darren Tanke whilst wandering through an Agujaceratops-dominated bone-bed.
The holotype (LSUMNS 20010) is a skull dome. A second, somewhat larger, dome (NMMNH P-30067) was later found at the same site.
