New Species of Dome-Headed Dinosaurs May Have Had Elaborate Headgear

An artist’s depiction of a newly described species of pachycephalosaur that was named Platytholus clemensi, after the late UC Berkeley paleontologist William Clemens. The skull is dome-shaped, but UC Berkeley and Chapman University paleontologists believe it was covered with bristles of keratin (purple) that may have been even more elaborate than depicted here. The bony knobs and spikes (yellow) are characteristic of pachycephalosaurs and many other dinosaurs. Credit: Graphic courtesy of Jack Horner