Episode 281 is all about Alaskacephale, A smaller relative of Pachycephalosaurus from Alaska.
We also interview Ralph Attanasia, Head Sculptor at Carlo’s Bakery and one of the stars on Buddy Vs Duff. He recently made a near life-size replica of the ankylosaur Zuul out of cake! Follow him on twitter @CakeBossRalph
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In this episode, we discuss:
News:
- The newly described dinosaur Asteriornis is named after the goddess of falling stars source
- Wally the Stegosaurus, from the Berkshire Museum in Massachusetts, is getting restored source
The dinosaur of the day: Alaskacephale
- Pachycephalosaurid that lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Alaska
- Holotype is a nearly complete left squamosal (back of the head) with some nodes
- Herbivorous
- Closely resembles Pachycephalosaurus and Prenocephale
- Paper mentions it is closest in size to Prenocephale
- Estimated to be about half the size of Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis (about 15 ft, 4.5 m long and weighed 990 lb or 450 kg, talk about in episode 93) or three quarters the size of Prenocephale (about 7.8 ft or 2.4 m long, weighing 280 lb or 130 kg, covered in episode 98)
- Described by Roland Gangloff and others in 2005 but as an unnamed pachycephalosaurid, and possibly Pachycephalosaurus
- Named in 2006 by Robert Sullivan
- Sullivan found it to be a distinct taxa in 2006 (squamosal had two diverging row of nodes, among other things)
- Genus name means “Alaskan head”
- Type and only species is Alaskacephale gangloffi
- Species name in honor of Roland Gangloff because he wrote about the holotype and also because he “contributed significantly to our understanding of dinosaurs of the North American Arctic region”
- Found in Prince Creek Formation, Colville Group, North Slope Borough, Alaska
- Found on a narrow beach at the base of bluffs on the west side of the Colville River
- Discovery helps show “a major faunal exchange took place between Eurasia and North America during Campanian time”
- Housed in the Earth Science Collections, University of Alaska Museum
- Can 3D print Alaskacephale via Tinkercad
Fun Fact: Days were shorter when Dinosaurs were around. Just half an hour shorter at the end of the Cretaceous, but about an hour and a half shorter in the Triassic.
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