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dome-headed dinosaur
Sphaerotholus
Say it like this: “SFEE-ro-THO-luss”
Sphaerotholus goodwini
Sphaerotholus ate plants and walked on two legs. It lived in the Late Cretaceous. Bones have been found in the United States and Canada.
- When
- Late Cretaceous (Campanian · Maastrichtian) · roughly 83.6 to 66 million years ago
- Named in
- 2003 · Williamson, T. E.; Carr, T. D.
- Hip height
- Not established
- Length
- 2 m · 7 ft
- Weight
- 40 kg · 88 lb
- Found in
- the United States and Canada · Kirtland
- Food and walking
- Herbivore · Two legs
- Kind
- dome-headed dinosaur · Pachycephalosaur
- Family branch
- Pachycephalosaurinae
The story in short
The genus Sphaerotholus dates to 2003, the year T. E. Williamson and T. D. Carr described it. The name means “spherical dome.”
It lived in the Late Cretaceous (Campanian · Maastrichtian), roughly 83.6 to 66 million years ago. Finds come from the United States and Canada, including the Kirtland Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on two legs.
Published estimates put Sphaerotholus at a length near 2 m and a body mass around 40 kg.
On the family tree it sits in Pachycephalosaurinae, among the dome-headed dinosaurs.
This entry is the whole genus. The type species is Sphaerotholus goodwini. Other named species include Sphaerotholus buchholtzae, Sphaerotholus edmontonensis, Sphaerotholus lyonsi, and Sphaerotholus triregnum.
Other species with this name
- Sphaerotholus goodwini
- Sphaerotholus buchholtzae
- Sphaerotholus edmontonensis
- Sphaerotholus lyonsi
- Sphaerotholus triregnum
Close relatives
Acrotholus
Acrotholus audeti
Late Cretaceous (Santonian) · roughly 85.7 to 83.6 million years ago
Alaskacephale
Alaskacephale gangloffi
Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) · roughly 72.2 to 66 million years ago
Brontotholus
Brontotholus harmoni
Late Cretaceous (Campanian) · roughly 83.6 to 72.2 million years ago