Albertaceratops

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Albertaceratops
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 77.5  Ma
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Philip J. Currie Albertaceratops.jpg
Skull in Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Neornithischia
Clade: Ceratopsia
Family: Ceratopsidae
Subfamily: Centrosaurinae
Clade: Albertaceratopsini
Genus: Albertaceratops
Ryan, 2007
Species:
A. nesmoi
Binomial name
Albertaceratops nesmoi
Ryan, 2007

Albertaceratops (meaning "Alberta horned face") is a genus of centrosaurine horned dinosaur from the middle Campanian-age Upper Cretaceous Oldman Formation of Alberta, Canada. [1]

Contents

Description

Restoration Albertaceratops BW.jpg
Restoration

Albertaceratops is unusual in combining long brow horns with an otherwise centrosaurine skull, as centrosaurines normally possess short brow horns. Over its nose was a bony ridge, and on its frill were two large outwardly-projecting hooks. [1] Its size has been estimated at 5.8 metres (19 ft) and 3,500 kilograms (7,700 lb). [2]

Discovery and naming

Skull of the Albertaceratops nesmoi holotype, TMP 2001.26.1 Albertaceratops nesmoi skull by Nick Longrich.jpg
Skull of the Albertaceratops nesmoi holotype, TMP 2001.26.1

Albertaceratops is known from a single complete skull (TMP.2001.26.1) found in August 2001 and skull and postcranial fragments. A phylogenetic analysis carried out by its describer, Michael J. Ryan, found it to be the most basal centrosaurine. [1] Additional specimens were reported from a bonebed in the Judith River Formation of Montana, which is equivalent to the Oldman Formation and differentiated only by the Canada–US border. However, further study showed these remains to come from a different centrosaurine, Medusaceratops . Both ceratopsids lived during the same time period, about 77.5 million years ago. [3]

The specific name, A. nesmoi, is derived from the name of Cecil Nesmo, a rancher living in Manyberries, Alberta, a town of less than 100 people located 71 km south of Medicine Hat. The rancher was thus honored in recognition of his efforts to aid fossil hunters. [1]

Classification

Coronosaurus and Albertaceratops in environment Coronosaurus and Albertaceratops.jpg
Coronosaurus and Albertaceratops in environment
Size of Albertaceratops compared to a human Albertaceratops Scale.svg
Size of Albertaceratops compared to a human

The cladogram presented below follows a phylogenetic analysis by Chiba et al. (2017), which included a systematic re-evaluation of Medusaceratops lokii: [4]

Centrosaurinae
Nasutoceratopsini

Avaceratops lammersi (ANSP 15800)

MOR 692

CMN 8804

Nasutoceratops titusi

Malta new taxon

Xenoceratops foremostensis

Sinoceratops zhuchengensis

Wendiceratops pinhornensis

Albertaceratops nesmoi

Medusaceratops lokii

Eucentrosaura
Centrosaurini

Rubeosaurus ovatus

Styracosaurus albertensis

Coronosaurus brinkmani

Centrosaurus apertus

Spinops sternbergorum

Pachyrhinosaurini

Einiosaurus procurvicornis

Pachyrostra

Achelousaurus horneri

Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis

See also

Related Research Articles

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<i>Achelousaurus</i> Genus of ceratopsid dinosaur from North America

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<i>Medusaceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Medusaceratops is an extinct genus of centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous Judith River Formation of Montana, northern United States. It contains a single species, Medusaceratops lokii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith River Formation</span> Fossil-bearing geologic formation in Montana, part of the Judith River Group

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<i>Diabloceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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<i>Nasutoceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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Coronosaurus is a genus of centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaurs which lived in the Late Cretaceous, in the middle Campanian stage. Its remains, two bone beds, were discovered by Phillip J. Currie in the Oldman Formation of Alberta, Canada, and its type and only species, Coronosaurus brinkmani, was first described in 2005, as a new species within the genus Centrosaurus. Later studies questioned the presence of a direct relationship, and in 2012 it was named as a separate genus. Coronosaurus means "crowned lizard", coming from "corona", Latin for crown, and "sauros", Greek for lizard; this name refers to the unique, crown-like shape of the horns on the top of its frill.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of ceratopsian research</span>

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<i>Yehuecauhceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Yehuecauhceratops is a genus of horned centrosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Coahuila, Mexico. It contains a single species, Y. mudei, described from two partial specimens by Rivera-Sylva et al. in 2016 and formally named by Rivera-Sylva et al. in 2017. It was a small centrosaurine with a body length of 3 metres (9.8 ft), making it smaller than Agujaceratops and Coahuilaceratops, the other two ceratopsids in its environment; the three may have been ecologically segregated. A ridge bearing a single roughened projection near the bottom of the squamosal bone, which probably supported a small horn, allows Yehuecauhceratops to be distinguished from other centrosaurines. Its affinities to nasutoceratopsin centrosaurines, such as Avaceratops and Nasutoceratops, are supported by various morphological similarities to the former.

<i>Furcatoceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Furcatoceratops is a genus of centrosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Judith River Formation of Montana. The type species is Furcatoceratops elucidans.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Ryan, Michael J. (2007). "A New Basal Centrosaurine Ceratopsid from the Oldman Formation, Southeastern Alberta". Journal of Paleontology. 81 (2): 376–396. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2007)81[376:ANBCCF]2.0.CO;2. ISSN   0022-3360. S2CID   130607301.
  2. Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 259
  3. Ryan, Michael J.; Russell, Anthony P., and Hartman, Scott. (2010). "A New Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid from the Judith River Formation, Montana", In: Michael J. Ryan, Brenda J. Chinnery-Allgeier, and David A. Eberth (eds), New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium, Indiana University Press, 656 pp. ISBN   0-253-35358-0.
  4. Kentaro Chiba; Michael J. Ryan; Federico Fanti; Mark A. Loewen; David C. Evans (2018). "New material and systematic re-evaluation of Medusaceratops lokii (Dinosauria, Ceratopsidae) from the Judith River Formation (Campanian, Montana)". Journal of Paleontology. 92 (2): 272–288. Bibcode:2018JPal...92..272C. doi:10.1017/jpa.2017.62. S2CID   134031275.