Brontotholus
Brontotholus was a dome-headed dinosaur that lived about 75 million years ago. It walked on two legs and had a thick, bony dome on its skull. This dinosaur was a plant-eater and one of the biggest dome-headed dinosaurs in North America.12
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Fun facts
Brontotholus is the third largest dome-headed dinosaur known from North America, after Pachycephalosaurus and Platytholus.1
Its name comes from the 1985 movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, because one fossil was found at a place called 'Beyond Thunder Dome'.1
The first fossil of Brontotholus was found in 1987 by Bob Makela in Montana.1
Scientists know Brontotholus mostly from its skull domes, because the rest of the skeleton is rarely preserved.2
This dinosaur was a plant-eater, even though its thick dome might make it look like a fighter.5
The species name harmoni honors Robert 'Bob' Harmon, a fossil preparator at the Museum of the Rockies.1
Most asked questions about Brontotholus
?How big was Brontotholus?
About 3.8 metres (12.5 feet) long. That makes it a dome headed animal, after Pachycephalosaurus and Platytholus.1
?What did Brontotholus eat?
It was a plant-eater, also called an herbivore.3
?When did Brontotholus live?
It lived about 75 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.14
?Where was Brontotholus found?
Fossils were found in Montana, USA, and Alberta, Canada.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Dome-headed dinosaurs like Brontotholus used their domes for head-butting each other.
Truth: Scientists are not sure. Some think the domes were for display or species recognition, not for fighting.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Brontotholus
- Named by
- Woodruff et al. 20255
- Group
- Dome-heads
- Family / clade
- Pachycephalosauridae5
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Pachycephalosauria5
- Age of the rocks
- 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)5
- Rock formations
- Two Medicine, Oldman5
- Countries
- USA, Canada5
- Fossil records
- 4 in the Paleobiology Database5
- Discovery
- Brontotholus was named in 2025 by Woodruff, Horner, Goodwin and Evans. The first fossil was found in 1987 in Montana, but it took many years before scientists realized it was a new species.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure if all five fossils belong to Brontotholus or if some might be other dome-headed dinosaurs.1
Where the facts come from
- Brontotholus (en.wikipedia.org)
- New species of dome-headed dinosaur discovered in Montana - ABC News (abcnews.com)
- BRONTOTHOLUS - DinoChecker dinosaur archive (dinochecker.com)
- New dinosaur species discovered in Montana, study says (usatoday.com)
- Brontotholus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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Pachycephalosaurus
Stegoceras
Prenocephale
Sphaerotholus
Foraminacephale
Colepiocephale
Triceratops
Velociraptor
Spinosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Parasaurolophus