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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