5.1" Fossil Pachycephalosaurus Vertebra with Metal Stand - Wyoming

Fossil Pachycephalosaurus Vertebra with Metal Stand - Wyoming #211079

This is an amazing, 5.1" tall, caudal (tail) vertebra of Pachycephalosaurus ("thick headed lizard"), collected from our partner's lease on the Lance (Creek) Formation of Weston County, Wyoming. This vertebra is well preserved with intact processes, centrum, prezygapophyses/postzygapophyses, and minimal reconstruction. It sits upright beautifully on the accompanied, custom metal display stand.

There are crack repairs through each transverse process, and the spinous process required some gap fill restoration to piece back together. There are also some repaired cracks through the centrum and the rock within the neural canal has been removed.

Pachycephalosaurus was a medium-sized herbivorous bipedal dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous in North America, most notably in the Hell Creek Formation. Pachycephalosaurus is a genus that has had much controversy taxonomically. The two contemporaneous genera Stygimoloch and Dracorex have undergone much scrutiny to determine whether they are valid species or if they are actually juvenile growth stages of Pachycephalosaurus. Most current consensus suggests that they are, making Pachycephalosaurus the predominant Pachycephalosaur of the Hell Creek Formation.

Pachycephalosaurus was a bipedal dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period and probably was about 15 feet in length.

Pachycephalosaurus had a distinctive large, bony dome on top of its skull up to 10 inches thick to cushion its brain from impacts.

Some paleontologists believe this thick skull may have been used for head-butting, much like modern rams, while others contend it may have been a sexual display.

It was one of the last non-avian dinosaurs before the K-T extinction event, 65 million years ago.

There is only one known species of Pachycephalosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis. Its remains have been found in Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

It was either an herbivore or omnivore with small leaf-shaped teeth effective for shredding plants.

An artist's reconstruction of Pachycephalosaurus. By Jordan Mallon

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