Platytholus is an extinct genus of pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Hell Creek Formation of the United States. The genus contains a single species, P. clemensi, known from a partial skull.[1]

Platytholus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian
Skeletal diagram of Platytholus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Neornithischia
Clade: Pachycephalosauria
Family: Pachycephalosauridae
Subfamily: Pachycephalosaurinae
Genus: Platytholus
Horner, Goodwin & Evans, 2023
Species:
P. clemensi
Binomial name
Platytholus clemensi
Horner, Goodwin & Evans, 2023

Discovery and naming

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Life restoration

The Platytholus holotype specimen, MOR 2915, was discovered during the early 2000s in sediments of the Hell Creek Formation, dated to the latest Maastrichtian age of the late Cretaceous period, in Garfield County, Montana. The specimen consists of a partial skull.[1]

In 2023, Horner, Goodwin & Evans described Platytholus clemensi, a new genus and species of pachycephalosaurid, based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "Platytholus", combines the Latinised Greek "platys", meaning "flattened", "wide", or "broad", and "tholos", meaning a "small domed hill". The specific name, "clemensi", honors American paleontologist William A. Clemens Jr.[1]

Classification

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Horner, Goodwin & Evans (2023) recovered Platytholus as a pachycephalosaurine member of the Pachycephalosauridae, as the sister taxon to a clade formed by Prenocephale and Acrotholus. The results of their phylogenetic analyses are shown in the cladogram below:[1]

Pachycephalosauria

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Horner, John R.; Goodwin, Mark B.; Evans, David C. (2023-04-14). "A new pachycephalosaurid from the Hell Creek Formation, Garfield County, Montana, U.S.A.". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 42 (4): e2190369. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2190369. ISSN 0272-4634.