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Foraminacephale, Late CretaceousDinosaur Park Formation, Alberta · named 2017
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Foraminacephale

Type species Foraminacephale brevis

Lived
84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Length
about 1.5 m (5 ft)
Group
Pachycephalosaurs, Pachycephalosauridae
Found in
Canada
Named by
Schott and Evans 2017

Size comparison

To scale

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

5 finds

80 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

A low coastal plain crossed by rivers in what is now Alberta. Its Dinosaur Park Formation world included Gorgosaurus, Styracosaurus and Parasaurolophus.

Field notes

About Foraminacephale

What it was like

Foraminacephale was a small pachycephalosaur about 1.5 meters (5 feet) long, a plant eater with a thick bony dome. Its skull had many small holes and a low, rounded dome.

Its world

It lived in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Alberta, Canada. It comes from the Dinosaur Park Formation, where it shared the land with the tyrannosaur Gorgosaurus, the horned Styracosaurus and the crested duckbill Parasaurolophus.

How it was found

Schott and Evans named Foraminacephale in 2017, for a species first placed in Stegoceras. The type species is Foraminacephale brevis.

Field gallery

More views of Foraminacephale

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Foraminacephale in its habitat, photo 1

1 of 3

Lived alongside

Found in the same rock formations

A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Foraminacephale.

The evidence

The science behind Foraminacephale

Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.

From its own fossils

  • The type specimen is a domed skull roof missing its front end. The many small holes across it are openings for blood vessels in the bone.
  • A separate squamosal from the back of the head, assigned to it, is a tall, smooth bar with a single row of knobs along its rear edge and a smaller knob at the corner.
  • Skull bones from young and adult animals show how the dome changed during growth. A more mature roof has a more swollen front boss and fewer holes, mostly near its edges.

Borrowed from relatives

  • The missing face and beak are restored after Prenocephale.
  • The two-legged body, limbs, tail and feet follow Goyocephale, another pachycephalosaur known from more of its skeleton.

Still unknown

  • Its face, jaws and body. Only bones of the skull roof are known.
  • Its skin covering and color.
  • How it used its dome in life.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2011Close relativeSchott et al.
  2. 2017Named itSchott & Evans
  3. 2023Family treeDyer, Powers & Currie

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Foraminacephale

Close relatives

Other members of Pachycephalosauridae

Sources: Wikidata