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While certain rules must be followed when naming a new species of dinosaur, scientists still enjoy some latitude in creating an appropriate name for their discovery. In the case of the Natural History Museum of Utah’s latest dinosaur discovery, Akainacephalus literally means “spiky head,” and johnsoni was chosen in honor of Randy Johnson, a dedicated museum volunteer who prepared a lot of the specimen.

Dr. James O. Farlow presents, "Big vs. Bouncy: Body Size, Limb Proportions, and Relative Stride Length in Bipedal Dinosaurs."

Dr. Farlow discusses how dinosaur trackways give researchers insights into the size and stride length of dinosaurs as well as differences in their locomotion which can reveal valuable information about these animals.

A time lapse of the installation of a skeleton mount of a newly described dinosaur, Akainacephalus johnsoni, at the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City. The new species was discovered in 2008 by Scott Richardson, a paleontologist with the BLM, during an expedition to the Kaiparowits Formation in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. For years, scientists and volunteers have been preparing and studying the fossil at the Natural History Museum of Utah, where it is now permanently housed.

Paleontologist Jelle Wiersma explains what a day in the field was like on expeditions to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, where a new species of ankylosaurid named Akainacephalus johnsoni was discovered.

Akainacephalus johnsoni, a new species of ankylosaurid dinosaur never before described in scientific literature, is introduced by paleontologists Jell Wiersma, PhD candidate at James Cook University, and Randall Iris, chief curator at the Natural History Museum of Utah. The new species was discovered in 2008 by Scott Richardson, a paleontologist with the BLM, during an expedition to the Kaiparowits Formation in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. For years, scientists and volunteers have been preparing and studying the fossil at the Natural History Museum of Utah, where it is now permanently housed. A mounted skeleton of Akainacephalus johnsoni is on display in the Past Worlds exhibit at the museum in Salt Lake City.

As far as the fossil record shows, ankylosaurid dinosaurs originated in Asia and at some point, long ago, dispersed into North America. Paleontologists Jelle Wiersma, PhD candidate at James Cook University, and Randall Irmis, chief curator and curator of paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Utah, explain their surprise at realizing their latest dinosaur discovery, Akainacephalus johnsoni, was more closely related to distant cousins in China and Mongolia than to other ankylosaurids in North America.

The Natural History Museum of Utah's Curator of Paleontology, Dr. Randy Irmis, discusses the value of scientific collaboration.