Dinosaurs A to Z
Ankylosauridae

Akainacephalus johnsoni

"thorn head"

Generic ankylosaur body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Akainacephalus 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ankylosaur body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Akainacephalus
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (76.26 Mya)
Place
North America · Utah, USA
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Ankylosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Thyreophora Ankylosauria Club-tailed armored herbivores.

Akainacephalus (meaning “thorn head”) is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from southern Utah that lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian, 76.26 Ma) in what is now the Horse Mountain Gryposaur Quarry of the Kaiparowits Formation. The type and only species, Akainacephalus johnsoni, is known from the most complete ankylosaur specimen ever discovered from southern Laramidia, including a complete skull, tail club, a number of osteoderms, limb elements and part of its pelvis, among other remains. It was described in 2018 by Jelle P. Wiersma and Randall B. Irmis. It is closely related and shares similar cranial anatomy to Nodocephalosaurus.

What we know

  • Named by Wiersma and Irmis, 2018.
  • Fossils found in North America and Utah, USA.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Akainacephalus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.