Stegoceras

Stegoceras is a genus of pachycephalosaurid (dome-headed) dinosaur that lived in what is now North America during the Late Cretaceous period, about 77.5 to 74 million years ago (mya). The first specimens from Alberta, Canada, were described in 1902, and the type species Stegoceras validum was based on these remains. The generic name means "horn roof", and the specific name means "strong". Several other species have been assigned to the genus, but these have since been moved to other genera or deemed junior synonyms. The remaining assigned species, S. novomexicanum, named in 2011 from fossils found in New Mexico, has also been debated, and may not belong to Stegoceras.

Stegoceras

Cherrysweetdeal · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
EupachycephalosauriaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ornithischia
Life habit
ground dwelling, gregariousPBDB, for Ornithischia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithischia
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Ornithischia
Length
2.4 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At most 18 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 83.6 Mya and 66 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Cretaceous — about 46 of 46 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 46 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences83–83 Mya — about 2 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 2 occurrences82–82 Mya — about 2 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 2 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 2 occurrences80–80 Mya — about 2 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 2 occurrences79–79 Mya — about 2 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 2 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 2 occurrences77–77 Mya — about 2 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 2 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 2 occurrences75–75 Mya — about 2 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 2 occurrences74–74 Mya — about 2 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 2 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 2 occurrences72–72 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences69–69 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences67–67 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences84.1 Mya65.5 Mya

46 occurrences of Stegoceras on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

46 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Judith River — 47.81°N, 109.59°WJudith River — 48.93°N, 110.58°WJudith River — 47.78°N, 109.38°WJudith River — 48.97°N, 110.55°WJudith River — 48.97°N, 110.93°WJudith River — 48.98°N, 110.45°WJudith River — 46.46°N, 109.41°WJudith River — 46.40°N, 109.66°WJudith River — 46.24°N, 109.59°WDinosaur Park — 50.41°N, 110.29°WDinosaur Park — 50.40°N, 111.10°WDinosaur Park — 50.69°N, 111.62°WDinosaur Park — 50.82°N, 111.60°WDinosaur Park — 50.81°N, 111.33°WFruitland — 36.29°N, 108.23°WFruitland — 36.28°N, 108.46°WFruitland — 36.12°N, 107.78°WHell Creek — 47.67°N, 106.27°WHell Creek — 47.66°N, 107.34°WKirtland — 36.49°N, 108.57°WKirtland — 36.10°N, 107.79°WOldman — 50.45°N, 111.12°WOldman — 50.74°N, 110.09°WJudith River — 49.10°N, 109.50°WAguja — 29.23°N, 103.64°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Stegoceras has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Stegoceras and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Stegoceras and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

120 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 45 sites for Stegoceras, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

15 references

Each of the 46 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 3 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Stegoceras

Credit
Cherrysweetdeal
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Stegoceras sp. · UCMP:V:130051

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEupachycephalosauria through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lambe 1902