| Akainacephalus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
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|---|---|
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| Reconstructed skeleton | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Thyreophora |
| Clade: | †Ankylosauria |
| Family: | †Ankylosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Ankylosaurinae |
| Tribe: | †Ankylosaurini |
| Genus: | †Akainacephalus Wiersma and Irmis, 2018 |
| Species: | †A. johnsoni
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| Binomial name | |
| †Akainacephalus johnsoni Wiersma and Irmis, 2018
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Akainacephalus (meaning "thorn head") is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from southern Utah that lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian, 76.26 Ma) in what is now the Horse Mountain Gryposaur Quarry of the Kaiparowits Formation. The type and only species, Akainacephalus johnsoni, is known from the most complete ankylosaur specimen ever discovered from southern Laramidia, including a complete skull, tail club, a number of osteoderms, limb elements and part of its pelvis, among other remains. It was described in 2018 by Jelle P. Wiersma and Randall B. Irmis. It is closely related and shares similar cranial anatomy to Nodocephalosaurus.