Concept

Timeline of pachycephalosaur research

This timeline of pachycephalosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the pachycephalosaurs, a group of dome-skulled herbivorous marginocephalian dinosaurs. One of the first major events related to the history of pachycephalosaur research actually regards the discovery of an unrelated dinosaur called Troodon, reported from the western United States by Joseph Leidy in 1856. The type specimen of Troodon was simply an unusual tooth, but the close resemblance between Troodon teeth and pachycephalosaur teeth would cause taxonomic confusion for over a century. This was resolved by Phil Currie in 1987, who realized that Troodon belonged to a group of bird-like carnivores then known as saurornithoidids, but since renamed Troodontidae after Troodon itself. The first scientifically documented true pachycephalosaur remains were discovered in Early Cretaceous rocks from England and named Stenopelix not long after Troodon was named in America. Other notable early finds include the well-known pachycephalosaur Stegoceras validum. In 1924, Charles Whitney Gilmore named the family Troodontidae after Troodon, but most of its members would be recognizable today as pachycephalosaurs. Seven years later, Gilmore named the new species "Troodon" wyomingensis which would be formally reclassified as Pachycephalosaurus in 1943. Pachycephalosaurus was so unusual that Sternberg named a new family for it, the Pachycephalosauridae. From the time paleontologists identified the pachycephalosaurs as a distinct group of dinosaurs, the chief mystery surrounding their biology has been the function of their distinctive cranial domes. Edwin Colbert interpreted the structure as a biological battering ram in 1955, but never specified who or what may have been on its receiving end. The idea that it was used in head butting between members of the same pachycephalosaur species was first proposed by science fiction writer Sprague de Camp. From then it became a staple of both scientific and cultural reconstructions of these animals.

À propos de ce résultat
Cette page est générée automatiquement et peut contenir des informations qui ne sont pas correctes, complètes, à jour ou pertinentes par rapport à votre recherche. Il en va de même pour toutes les autres pages de ce site. Veillez à vérifier les informations auprès des sources officielles de l'EPFL.

Graph Chatbot

Chattez avec Graph Search

Posez n’importe quelle question sur les cours, conférences, exercices, recherches, actualités, etc. de l’EPFL ou essayez les exemples de questions ci-dessous.

AVERTISSEMENT : Le chatbot Graph n'est pas programmé pour fournir des réponses explicites ou catégoriques à vos questions. Il transforme plutôt vos questions en demandes API qui sont distribuées aux différents services informatiques officiellement administrés par l'EPFL. Son but est uniquement de collecter et de recommander des références pertinentes à des contenus que vous pouvez explorer pour vous aider à répondre à vos questions.