Dracorex

Name: Dracorex ‭(‬Dragon king‭)‬.
Phonetic: Dray-coe-reks.
Named By: R.‭ ‬T.‭ ‬Bakker‭ ‬-‭ ‬R.‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Sullivan,‭ ‬V.‭ ‬Porter,‭ ‬P.‭ ‬Larson‭ & ‬S.‭ ‬J.‭ ‬Saulsbury‭ ‬-‭ ‬2006.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Pachycephalosauridae,Pachycephalosaurinae,‭ ‬Pachycephalosaurini.
Species: D.‭ ‬hogwartsia‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain due‭ ‬to lack of remains,‭ ‬but the holotype is roughly established as having a body length of about‭ ‬3‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: USA,‭ ‬South Dakota‭ ‬-‭ ‬Hell Creek Formation.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Skull and four cervical‭ (‬neck‭) ‬vertebrae.

       Like with most flat headed pachycephalosaurs,‭ ‬the genus Dracorex may well represent a juvenile of another genus.‭ ‬This is because there seems to be an emerging pattern where pachycephalosaurs had flat heads when they hatched out of the eggs,‭ ‬but growing into domes as the dinosaur grew to adulthood.‭ ‬In this‭ ‬respect Dracorex has been perceived to be a younger version of Stygimoloch,‭ ‬while both of these have been suggested to be juveniles of the famous Pachycephalosaurus,‭ ‬the only confirmed fossils of which at the time of writing are from adults.‭ ‬If this is correct,‭ ‬then both Dracorex and Stygimoloch will end up being re-classified as juvenile Pachycephalosaurus,‭ ‬though only the discovery of new fossils of different growth stages could confirm this with absolute certainty.

Further reading
-‭ ‬Dracorex hogwartsia,‭ ‬n.‭ ‬gen.,‭ ‬n.‭ ‬sp.,‭ ‬a spiked,‭ ‬flat-headed pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota.‭ ‬-‭ ‬R.‭ ‬T.‭ ‬Bakker‭ ‬-‭ ‬R.‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Sullivan,‭ ‬V.‭ ‬Porter,‭ ‬P.‭ ‬Larson‭ & ‬S.‭ ‬J.‭ ‬Saulsbury‭ ‬-‭ ‬In Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the Western Interior.‭ ‬New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin‭ ‬35,‭ ‬pp.‭ ‬331‭–‬345.‭ ‬-‭ ‬S.‭ ‬G.‭ ‬Lucas‭ & ‬R.‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Sullivan‭ ‬-‭ ‬2006.
-‭ ‬Extreme cranial ontogeny in the Upper Cretaceous Dinosaur Pachycephalosaurus.‭ ‬-‭ ‬PLoS ONE,‭ ‬4‭(‬10‭)‬:‭ ‬e7626.‭ ‬-‭ ‬J.‭ ‬R.‭ ‬Horner‭ & ‬M.‭ ‬B.‭ ‬Goodwin‭ ‬-‭ ‬2009.

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