Nodocephalosaurus
"knob-headed lizard"
- Lived
- 84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ankylosaurs, Ankylosauridae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Sullivan 1999
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Habitat
It lived on a river floodplain in what is now New Mexico. The Kirtland Formation also preserves Parasaurolophus, Pentaceratops and Bistahieversor.
Field notes
About Nodocephalosaurus
What it was like
Nodocephalosaurus was an ankylosaur, an armored plant eater with a tail club. Its skull was covered in rounded, bumpy knobs of bone, which gave it its name.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now New Mexico, in the United States. Its bones come from the Kirtland Formation, where it shared the land with the horned Pentaceratops, the crested Parasaurolophus and the tyrannosaur Bistahieversor.
How it was found
Sullivan named Nodocephalosaurus in 1999 from a partial skull.
Field gallery
More views of Nodocephalosaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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 Nodocephalosaurus.
The evidence
The science behind Nodocephalosaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The naming specimen is a partial skull covered with rounded, swollen knobs of bone.
- The cheek horn points forward and downward, and a ridge of armor rises beside the snout.
Borrowed from relatives
- The low body, sturdy limbs and tail club are restored from other ankylosaurids such as Akainacephalus and Saichania.
- Its rounded skull armor resembles that of Saichania and Tarchia.
Still unknown
- The exact arrangement of armor across its body.
- The shape and size of its tail club.
- Its skin color and how its skull armor changed as it grew.
Discovery timeline
- 1999Named itSullivan
- 2014Same rocksArbour et al.
- 2018Close relativeWiersma & Irmis
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Nodocephalosaurus
Named it
Named an ankylosaur from a partial skull with swollen armor knobs and noted similarities to Asian ankylosaurids.
Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis, gen. et sp. nov., a new ankylosaurid dinosaur (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Kirtland Formation (upper Campanian), San Juan Basin, New Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19: 126-139
Read the paper : Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis, gen. et sp. nov., a new ankylosaurid dinosaur (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Kirtland Formation (upper Campanian), San Juan Basin, New Mexico (opens in a new tab)Same rocks
Named Ziapelta from the Kirtland Formation and showed that its skull armor differs from Nodocephalosaurus.
A New Ankylosaurid Dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Kirtlandian) of New Mexico with Implications for Ankylosaurid Diversity in the Upper Cretaceous of Western North America. PLoS ONE 9: e108804
Read the paper : A New Ankylosaurid Dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Kirtlandian) of New Mexico with Implications for Ankylosaurid Diversity in the Upper Cretaceous of Western North America (opens in a new tab)Close relative
Described Akainacephalus and found links between it, Nodocephalosaurus and Asian ankylosaurids.
A new southern Laramidian ankylosaurid, Akainacephalus johnsoni gen. et sp. nov., from the upper Campanian Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah, USA. PeerJ 6: e5016
Read the paper : A new southern Laramidian ankylosaurid, Akainacephalus johnsoni gen. et sp. nov., from the upper Campanian Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah, USA (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Ankylosauridae
Sources: Wikidata