Head-Ramming Dino Had 'Gears' in Skull

The new Texas dino featured a skull with a domed top and side bones that may have allowed its skull bones to mesh on impact.

By Jennifer Viegas | Mon Apr 19, 2010 05:21 AM ET

A new species dinosaur found in Texas featured flanges on the side of its skull that may have allowed its skull bones to mesh like gears -- a useful feature when it likely rammed heads with other dinosaurs, say researchers.

"It's possible that this would prevent the skull bones from dislocating under stresses," speculated Nicholas Longrich, a postdoctoral associate in Yale University's Department of Geology and Geophysics who was project leader for a study about the find published in the latest issue of the journal Cretaceous Research.

Named Texacephale langstoni, meaning "Texas head" and in honor of paleontologist Wann Langston, the new dinosaur lived 70 to 80 million years ago in what is now southwest Texas.

Texacephale langstoni represents a new genus of pachycephalosaur, a group of thick-skulled, plant-eating dinosaurs that moved around on two legs and probably first emerged in North America. Previously it was thought that this group of dinosaurs originated in Asia.

more

http://news.discovery.com/dinosaurs/head-butting-dinosaur-skull.html

;-)