Welcome to the Official Dracorex Homepage!
The Dracorex is a dinosaur discovered in recent years by the company Midwest Paleontology. While the Dracorex is often confused with the Pachycephalosaurus, it is actually its own genus and species. Midwest Paleontology is an unlikely and eclectic group of amateur paleontologists, first introduced by the late Dr. Kevin Duling more than a dozen years ago that includes:
On one particular trip in May of 2003, Brian, Pat and Steve were able to get away to a private ranch in South Dakota and resume work on a Triceratops site discovered by Steve and a nearby microsite revealed by Pat.
Nearing the end of the long, last day, Brian decided to take one more look at a nearby ridge. In the fading light, he noticed a small bony knob protruding from the eroded ground. What was to follow was a startling discovery that has intrigued paleontologists and sparked debate to this day.
Several years and thousands of prep hours later, this was revealed as the nearly complete skull of a never before seen flat headed pachycephalosaurid!
Covered in spikes and knobs, the dinosaur was christened Dracorex hogwartsia, or "Dragon King of Hogwarts." It was donated to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. To visit click Here.
Together with the skull, there were four complete cervical vertebrae. Also, portions of a scapula and cervical rib were found. Despite extensive excavation, that was all. The rest may have been eaten or scattered, the partial scapula does show evidence of predation
A CT scan of the skull with the surrounding matrix electronically removed showed lack of a characteristic dome.
Dracorex hogwartsia is the first flat headed pachycephalosaurid discovered in North America. From the beginning, the dinosaur has sparked the imagination - and fueled debate. Recently, paleontologist Jack Horner has called into question fully a third of all dinosaur species as misidentified juveniles. Was Dracorex a juvenile? No. The fossil record clearly indicates that it was a sexually mature dinosaur and probably a young adult.
Formally described by renowned paleontologists Drs. Robert Bakker and Robert Sullivan as well as Peter and Neal Larson with Victor Porter and Dr. Steven Saulsbury, the dinosaur bears an uncanny resemblance to a dragon.
Adrienne Mayor, a renowned classical folklorist and the author of "The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times" and "Fossil Legends of the First Americans" had the opportunity to see Dracorex hogwartsia. "The shape of the dinosaur's skull, with its long muzzle, bizarre knobs and horns, surprised the scientists," Mayor said. "But the skull looks strangely familiar to anyone who has studied dragons! Dracorex has a remarkable resemblance to the dragons of ancient China and medieval Europe."
Dracorex hogwarstsia is a separate genus and is a member of the family Pachycephalosauridae, which also includes Pachycephalosaurus and Stygimoloch. A thick bony dome, which is a defining feature of all other North American pachycephalosaurids, is absent in Dracorex.
Almost as important as the discovery of the skull were the additional cervical vertebrae. Postcranial material in Pachycephalosurids is extremely rare. The locking configuration of the vertebrae, as well as robust muscle attachment sites on the skull, indicate that the neck was exceedingly strong. While they may not have been classic "head butters," they would have been equipped for aggressive intraspecies behaviors such as flank butting or simply shoving.
In 2007, the Dracorex graced the December cover of National Geographic magazine!
To reconstruct the dinosaur, Mark Dubeau damnfx creative director and now with Tippett Studio relied on photographic material of Dracorex fossils. “Judging from the skull alone, we knew that it was going to be a really detailed and complex build to get this guy right,” said Dubeau.
Josh Smith, Paleontology Specialist at National Geographic commented: “This is easily the best reconstruction of Dracorex out there… period. Heck, in terms of texture and color, it’s one of the best dinosaur reconstructions I’ve seen.”
In 2009 the Dracorex was featured in an episode of Primeval, a British science fiction television program that follows a team of five scientists tasked with investigating the appearance of temporal anomalies across Great Britain while encountering prehistoric and futuristic creatures along the way.
Keep in mind, the paleontolgists were attending an annual meeting of the American Association of Museums and only saw the skull by coincidence. This is their first look at the Dracorex.
Special thanks to Neal and Peter Larson, Drs. Phil Currie and Eva Koppelhus and Dr. Robert Bakker. Thank you to currator Dallas Evans, Victor Porter and Shane Ziemmer
To download the original article describing Dracorex.
Dracorex escaped from the Cretaceous into medieval England. A knight mistook it for a dragon and tried to kill it, even following it through the temporal anomaly into present-day London!
DRACOREX HOGWARTSIA
Body provided by Triebold Paleontology
- Brian Buckmeier - attorney
- Pat Saulsbury - veterinarian
- Steve Saulsbury - radiologist
- Tim Saulsbury - physical therapist
- Darren Maurer - artist
What did Dracorex look like?
Charlie McGrady of CM Studio has museum-quality full size and scale model reproductions of this dinosaur, discovered recently by Midwest Paleontology, "For All Your Dinosaur Needs."
The dinosaur has even made an appearance in Ripley's - Believe It or Not!
Copyright 2010 Midwest Paleontology: Dinosaur Discovered. All Rights Reserved.
The Dracorex - An Intriguing Dinosaur Discovered in 2003
