2025年9月17日出版的《自然》杂志发表了来自美国北卡罗来纳州立大学的Lindsay E. Zanno团队的最新成果，他们发现了蒙古白垩纪早期的圆顶厚头龙。

这里该研究团队描述了来自蒙古下白垩统Khuren Dukh组的Zavacephale仁波切gen.et sp.nov.，这是全球发现的骨骼最完整、地质上最古老的厚头龙。Z.仁波切展示了一个发育良好的额顶圆顶，并保存了进化支的第一个手工元素和胃石的记录。系统发育分析发现Z.仁波切是最早的厚头龙分支之一，他们将额顶圆顶的化石证据至少回溯到14年前。Myr和澄清其组装的宏观演化趋势。该课题组人员发现穹窿演化的最早阶段是以额先发育模式发生的，保留了开放的超时窗，这反映了一些晚白垩世分类群的个体发育轨迹。最后，在早期厚头龙中，额顶骨穹窿和后肢的骨骼内骨组织显示出社会性和躯体成熟度的分离，在终体大小之前穹窿发育较晚。

研究人员表示，圆顶厚头龙是最神秘的恐龙之一。具有肥大的头盖骨顶和精致的颅骨装饰，该分支的成员被认为进化出了复杂的社会性系统。尽管它们对理解恐龙的行为生态学很重要，但缺乏无可争议的早期分化分类群阻碍了他们重建进化枝的起源和早期进化的能力。

附：英文原文

Title: A domed pachycephalosaur from the early Cretaceous of Mongolia

Author: Chinzorig, Tsogtbaatar, Takasaki, Ryuji, Yoshida, Junki, Tucker, Ryan T., Buyantegsh, Batsaikhan, Mainbayar, Buuvei, Tsogtbaatar, Khishigjav, Zanno, Lindsay E.

Issue&Volume: 2025-09-17

Abstract: The dome-headed pachycephalosaurians are among the most enigmatic dinosaurs. Bearing a hypertrophied skull roof and elaborate cranial ornamentation, members of the clade are considered to have evolved complex sociosexual systems1,2,3. Despite their importance in understanding behavioural ecology in Dinosauria, the absence of uncontested early diverging taxa has hindered our ability to reconstruct the origin and early evolution of the clade4,5,6,7. Here we describe Zavacephale rinpoche gen. et sp. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous Khuren Dukh Formation of Mongolia, the most skeletally complete and geologically oldest pachycephalosaurian discovered globally. Z.rinpoche exhibits a well-developed frontoparietal dome and preserves the clade’s first record of manual elements and gastroliths. Phylogenetic analysis recovered Z.rinpoche as one of the earliest diverging pachycephalosaurians, pushing back fossil evidence of the frontoparietal dome by at least 14Myr and clarifying macroevolutionary trends in its assembly. We found that the earliest stage of dome evolution occurred by means of a frontal-first developmental pattern with retention of open supratemporal fenestra, mirroring proposed ontogenetic trajectories in some Late Cretaceous taxa. Finally, intraskeletal osteohistology of the frontoparietal dome and hindlimb demonstrate decoupling of sociosexual and somatic maturity in early pachycephalosaurians, with advanced dome development preceding terminal body size.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09213-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09213-6