Pachycephalosaur Dinosaur Claw from Hell Creek

Description: The Pachycephalosauria, meaning thick headed lizards, is a family of dinoaurs from Order Ornithischia that includes such well known genera include Pachycephalosaurus, Stegoceras, Stygimoloch, and Dracorex. Most lived during the Late Cretaceous Period, in what is now North America and Asia. The probably traveled in herds. They were all bipedal, herbivorous/omnivorous animals noted for having thick skulls. Some has a domed skull roof that was several inches thick sometimes surrounded by nodes.

The function of the thickened skull roof has been heavily debated. It has been frequently asserted that individuals may have rammed each other head-on, as do modern-day mountain goats and musk oxen. It is also suggested that pachycephalosaurs could make their head, neck, and body horizontally straight, in order to transmit stress during ramming. However, in no known dinosaur can the head, neck, and body be oriented in such a position. Instead, the cervical and anterior dorsal vertebrae of pachycephalosaurs show that the neck was carried in an "S"- or "U"-shaped curve.

Recently the Fossil Mall associates purchased a large lot of dinosaur, reptile and mammal material from our primary collector. He lives in Montana and has over fifteen years of field collecting experience. Ten days were spent in obtaining this lot. The fossils were discovered in Cretaceous stream channel deposits. Some were surface collected as float; many were partially eroded out of the low-lying surrounding gullies and bad lands. The process continued upon his return home. There the specimens had to be cleaned and identified, a long and tedious process that lasted many days. Upon completion, all the specimens were photographed and submitted to us at the Fossil Mall for consideration of purchase. Needless to say, we bought the whole batch.

A word regarding the legality of these fossils. Our provider only collects on private ranch and farmlands of Montana and South Dakota. His relationships with these landowners have been cultivated over many years of door knocking and often difficult negotiations.