Talk:Pachycephalosauria

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Dracorex hogwartsia

• Any dino-experts know where Dracorex hogwartsia fits into all of this? - Seinfreak37 16:49, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Pictures

• if an experienced wiki user could add some more pictures to make the article better and more educational please do so it is greatly needed especially for a unique yet intersting dinosaur like this.

Height?

I can't find any consistent data on the height of common Pachycephalosaurids (Pachycephalosaurus, Dracorex, Stygimoloch, etc.). A google search will reveal often conflicting data. I've gotten results stating that a Pachycephalosaurus is thigh-high, and other results ballparking the dinosaur to be as large as a Tyrannosaur. More often than not, only the length of the pachycephalosaurid is listed. This is the case in the majority (if not all) of the relevant Wikipedia articles.

Thus, if you have any conclusive evidence on the height of the various pachycephalosaurid species, please do add them appropriately. Qwo 23:12, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Herbivorous / omnivorous?

"They were all bipedal, herbivorous/omnivorous animals" -- I don't recall them ever being mentioned as anything but plain old herbivores. What's up with the mention of omnivory here? -- 201.37.230.43 (talk) 10:51, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Praise

I think this article is comprehensive and very well presented. Very good. —Preceding unsigned comment added by R. Rehor (talk • contribs) 10:04, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

No more Homalocephalidae

The Homalocephale article still lists it as the sole representative of Homalocephalidae, but this page suggests the only pachycephalosaur family is Pachycephalosauridae, which includes Homalocephale. Is Homalocephalidae no longer favored among taxonomists? Jerkov (talk) 23:28, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Depends on the definition of Pachycephalosauridae being used. If it's the wide definition, Homalocephale is included and Homalocephalidae automatically becomes a junior synonym. If it's the narrower definition, Homalocephalidae can't be synonymised, though it's still monotypic. Dinoguy2 (talk) 05:17, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Pachycephalosaur implosion continues

The new paper by Longrich describing Texacephale concurs with Horner & Goodwin that flat-skulled pachys are juveniles of domed forms, concludes that Goyacephale and Wannanosaurus are juveniles, and sinks Homalocephale into Prenocephale. I've added notes explaining the situation to the affected articles. Dinoguy2 (talk) 21:02, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

"Unicorn Pachys"

I read about this theory recently based on this alledged study done by Jack Horner and Mark Goodwin in 2004 on the subject on Pachycephalosaur domes. Apparently, the dome was the bony base for a keatinous structure of some kind, possibly a horn. The problem is that I read this from a book made for the public, which wouldn't be suitable as a reliable source. Does anybody here know where to find a published article or paper about this? Star Hound (talk) 02:35, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

I don't think this was ever particularly popular, but I wonder if there could be some overlap with recent work on Pachyrhinosaurus, the thick-nosed horned dinosaur that was also postulated to have a large nonbony horn. There was a recent publication on this topic:

Hieronymus, T. L.; Witmer, L. M.; Tanke, D. H.; and Currie, P. J. (2009) The Facial Integument of Centrosaurine Ceratopsids: Morphological and Histological Correlates of Novel Skin Structures. (pdf, currently available) The Anatomical Record 292:1370–1396.

The punchline is they think a large nonbony pad was present, but not a horn. J. Spencer (talk) 04:03, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

I remember reading this about pachys as well, but I'm not sure it was ever published. Possibly mentioned on an SVP poster or even pers. cor. from Horner. Dinoguy2 (talk) 15:41, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

I found the scientific paper! http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4067/is_200404/ai_n9400871/?tag=content;col1 The spongy tissue in their heads was only found in juvenile animals, and was associated with ontogeny, not head-butting. The dome was also honeycombed with Sharpey's Fibres, indicating that it probably supported a tall keratinous structure, used for sexual display, intimidation and species recognition. Star Hound (talk) 17:32, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Very useful to have it online! From my reading, it seems like there was something nonbony there, but Goodwin and Horner are not sure what it looked like (of course, a big horn is an obvious choice). J. Spencer (talk) 00:20, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Snively Theodor 2011

I found this new paper

Snively, E; Theodor, JM (2011). "Common Functional Correlates of Head-Strike Behavior in the Pachycephalosaur Stegoceras validum (Ornithischia, Dinosauria) and Combative Artiodactyls". PLoS ONE. 6 (6): e21422. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021422.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)

and this related blog post

Snively, E (2011). "Guest post: when pachycephalosaurs attack". Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

and was hoping someone more knowledgeable than myself could add the information to the article. --Fama Clamosa (talk) 07:17, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Nevermind, I've now added this information to the article myself. --Fama Clamosa (talk)

A sentence

"Sullivan considered attempts to restrict Maryańska and Osmólska naming of Pachycephalosauria redundant with their Pachycephalosauridae, since they were diagnosed by the same anatomical characters." - Perhaps it's just that my knowledge of the English language isn't good enough, but I really don't understand what exactly was meant to be said with this sentence? Can someone explain it to me? --77.77.250.84 (talk) 12:39, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Move to Pachycephalosauridae?

Sullivan 2006 argues that Pachycephalosauria is redundant in relation to Pachycephalosauridae[1], as they contain the same taxa. Not sure what most other researchers use, but should this article be moved accordingly? FunkMonk (talk) 01:05, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

Generally, the only taxa separate is Wannanosaurus, as it is excluded from the normal Pachycephalosauridae. However, some analyses (Sullivan) find Wannanosaurus within Pachycephalosauridae, close to Goyocephale and Homalocephale. Regardless, Pachycephalosauridae is the more used name, and the differences are so slight, I would recommend moving Pachycephalosauria to Pachycephalosauridae. IJReid ^discuss 05:16, 5 July 2016 (UTC)

Seems I overlooked the first cladogram:[2] FunkMonk (talk) 06:19, 7 July 2016 (UTC)

Wrist flexibility

Were their wrists more flexible than theropods' or exactly the same (like if they can pronate or not)?184.186.4.209 (talk) 04:11, 21 July 2019 (UTC)

Probably not, which makes a few of the images used in this article inaccurate. FunkMonk (talk) 02:31, 8 August 2019 (UTC)

Stygimoloch spinifer

It has still not been confirmed that Stygimoloch is a junior synonym of Pachycephalosaurus yet it doesn't have its own article even though other species thought to be junior synonyms (such as Homalocephale) still have their own articles. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1001950cats$ (talk • contribs) 15:28, 21 January 2021 (UTC)