Stygimoloch

STIJ-ee-MOLE-ock

Photo by Josh Hofer on Flickr

Learn Before You Go

Scientific Name: Stygimoloch
Pronunciation: STIJ-ee-MOLE-ock
Name Means: Horned devil from the river of death
Diet: Herbivore
Fossils Found: Montana and Wyoming
Wikipedia: Stygimoloch

Were They Really Blue?

We don’t know exactly what color the dinosaurs were. But since birds—the closest living relatives of dinosaurs—exist in a wide variety of colors, most scientists assume dinosaurs did as well.

Bright colors, like the parrot-like coloration chosen for the Stygimoloch models, could have been useful in attracting mates.

Paleontologist Jack Horner has proposed that the pachycephalosaurs Dracorex (upper left) and Stygimoloch (upper right) are really growth stages in the species Pachycephalosaurus (lower center).

Mistaken Identity?

It has been suggested that the Stygimoloch could be a specimen representing one growth stage of the species Pachycephalosaurus. Differences in the pattern of spikes and the size of the skull dome were originally considered to be differences between species, but are now thought to represent changes between the juvenile and adult of one species. This issue represents one of the recurring challenges in paleontology -- the proper identification of species that could be another sex or a juvenile individual of a particular species.