OrnithischiaPachycephalosauridae

Stegoceras validum

Stegoceras validum skeletal reconstruction, left lateral view, reconstructed length ~2.4 m.
Scale bar = 50 centimeters
Taxon
Stegoceras validum Lambe, 1902
Reconstructed length
~2.4 m (8 feet)
View
Left lateral
Drawing
© Scott Hartman
Drawn
2011, revised 2022
Clade
  1. Ornithischia
  2. Neornithischia
  3. Marginocephalia
  4. Pachycephalosauria
  5. Pachycephalosauridae

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Stegoceras was a pachycephalosaur, or dome-headed dinosaur, from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, about 75 million years ago. A small (2.4 m / 6.5 foot long) bipedal plant-eater, it had a thickened dome of bone crowning its skull, likely used in display or for butting (whether head-to-head, or head-to-flank contests are more likely is still a subject of debate).