Platytholus

Platytholus; Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
	Life restoration
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	†Ornithischia
Clade:	†Pachycephalosauria
Family:	†Pachycephalosauridae
Subfamily:	† Pachycephalosaurinae
Genus:	†Platytholus; Horner, Goodwin & Evans, 2023
Species:	†P. clemensi
Binomial name
	†Platytholus clemensi; Horner, Goodwin & Evans, 2023

Platytholus is an

pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Hell Creek Formation of the United States. The genus contains a single species, P. clemensi, known from a partial skull.^[1]

Discovery and naming

The Platytholus holotype specimen, MOR 2915, was discovered during the early 2000s in sediments of the Hell Creek Formation, dated to the latest Maastrichtian age of the late Cretaceous period, in Garfield County, Montana. The specimen consists of a partial skull.^[1]

In 2023, Horner, Goodwin & Evans described Platytholus clemensi, a new genus and species of pachycephalosaurid, based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "Platytholus", combines the Latinised Greek "platys", meaning "flattened", "wide", or "broad", and "tholos", meaning a "small domed hill". The specific name, "clemensi", honors American paleontologist William A. Clemens Jr.^[1]