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Stenopelix

Name: Stenopelix (Narrow pelvis).
Phonetic: Sten-oh-pel-ix.
Named By: Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer - 1857.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria, Ornithoschia, Marginocephalia, Ceratopsia.
Species: S. valdensis (type).
Diet: Presumed a herbivore due to its ceratopsian lineage.
Size: Estimated at up to 1.5 meters long.
Known locations: Germany.
Time period: Barremian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skeleton but no skull.

       Along with Yinlong, Stenopelix appears to have been one of the earliest members of the ceratopsian group of dinosaur. Unfortunately because the skull was not preserved no one knows exactly how far along the beak and neck frill had developed, in fact the identification of Stenopelix as a ceratopsian dinosaur was based upon study of the hips structure. Some however still consider Stenopelix to have been a basal pachycephalosaur, a group of bipedal dome headed dinosaurs that seem to share an ancestry with the ceratopsians.

Further reading
- Beiträge zur näheren Kenntniss fossiler Reptilien [Contributions to the detailed knowledge of fossil reptiles]. - Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefakten-Kunde 1857:532-543. - H. von Meyer - 1857.
- Stenopelix valdensis H. v. Meyer, der kleine Dinosaurier des norddeutschen Wealden. - Paläontologische Zeitschrift 43(3/4): 194-198. - H. Schmidt - 1969.
- The systematic position of Stenopelix valdensis (Reptilia: Ornithischia) from the Wealden of north-western Germany. - Palaeontographica Abteilung - H. -D. Sies & P. M. Galton - 1982.
- The phylogenetic position of Stenopelix valdensis from the Lower Cretaceous of Germany and the early fossil record of Pachycephalosauria. - Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 54. - R. H. Butler & R. M. Sullivan - 2009.

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