PACHY SKELETON FOUND!

[Crpntr@ix.netcom.com (Kenneth Carpenter)]

     It's true!  This summer I will be camp cook for Mike Triebold.  I 
heard a rumor last summer from Kirk Johnson that a pachycephalosaur 
skeleton had been found.  My posting about a steak dinner or camp cook 
paid off and I got a phone call today at work.  Mike was very generous 
with information.   The site is in about the middle (according to Kirk) 
Hell Creek Formation in northwestern South Dakota.  
     The skull lacks the dome (of all things!), but is nearly complete 
from occipital condyle to snout.  The snout has the short spikes seen on 
the AMNH skull, as well as the jugal spikes.  The external nares is 
surprisingly low, just above the cutting margin of the premaxilla.  
There are four Stygimoloch-like spikes, but only two can be attached 
with confidence to the rear of the skull.  Of the lower jaw, a nearly 
complete right dentary, surangular  and articular are present.   
Surprisingly, there a short spines projecting from the surangular.      
Both the atlas and axis are present and three other cervicals, including 
the last.  Attached to the last cervical is a string of three dorsals 
with wedge shaped centra.  As a result the neck is nearly perpendicular 
to the back (no way to butt heads!).  There are five additional dorsals, 
but their placement is not certain.  The sacrum contains six vertebrae. 
Three caudals are also present. The wide sacral ribs and curvature of 
the ribs indicates a wide body as in Homalocephale 
    Nothing is known of the pectoral girdles or forelimbs.  Of the 
pelvis, an ilium and both ischia are known.  The hindlimbs are 
represented by both femurs (the most complete of which is 450 mm long, 
and 183 mm in circumference), both tibia, and one fibula; the pes are 
missing. 
     Oh, by the way, did I mention that Dale Russell is describing the 
specimen? Until then, we'll have to wait to see if the specimen is 
Stygimoloch as the spikes suggest, or Pachycephalosaurus as the rest of 
the skull imply.
     Okay, Ralph, pay up.  I'll be sending you Mike's address via 
e-mail.