Amtocephale

Amtocephale; Temporal range: ; Late Cretaceous, 84.5–83.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	†Ornithischia
Clade:	†Neornithischia
Clade:	†Pachycephalosauria
Family:	†Pachycephalosauridae
Genus:	†Amtocephale; Watabe, Tsogtbaatar & Sullivan, 2011
Species
	†A. gobiensis Watabe, Tsogtbaatar & Sullivan, 2011 (type);

Amtocephale (meaning "Amtgai head") is a genus of pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from early Late Cretaceous (Turonian-Santonian stages) deposits of southern Gobi Desert, Mongolia.

Amtocephale is known from the holotype MPC-D 100/1203, a nearly complete frontoparietal dome of a subadult individual. It was collected from the Baynshire Formation at the Amtgai locality. Amtocephale was first named by Mahito Watabe, Khishigjaw Tsogtbaatar and Robert M. Sullivan in 2011 and the type species is Amtocephale gobiensis. The generic name combines a reference to the Amtgai site with a Greek κεφαλή, kephale, "head". The specific name refers to the provenance from the Gobi.^[1]

The frontoparietal dome, formed by a fusion of the frontals in front and the parietals in the back, has a length of 53.2 millimetres (2.09 in) and a maximal thickness of 19 millimetres (0.75 in). The contribution to the dome length of the parietal part is exceptionally large, with a portion of 41%.^[1]

Amtocephale was assigned to the Pachycephalosauridae and is perhaps the oldest pachycephalosaurid known, depending on the exact age of the formation.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Mahito Watabe; Khishigjaw Tsogtbaatar & Robert M. Sullivan (2011). "A new pachycephalosaurid from the Baynshire Formation (Cenomanian-late Santonian), Gobi Desert, Mongolia" (PDF). Fossil Record 3. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin. 53: 489–497.