Coahuilaceratops

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Coahuilaceratops
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
~71.5–70.5  Ma
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Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna skull.jpg
Skull of Coahuilaceratops
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: Chasmosaurinae
Genus: Coahuilaceratops
Loewen et al., 2010
Species:
C. magnacuerna
Binomial name
Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna
Loewen et al., 2010

Coahuilaceratops (meaning "horned face from Coahuila") is a genus of chasmosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur that lived during the early Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 71.5 to 70.5 million years ago in what is now northern Mexico. [1] It contains a single species, Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna. [2]

Contents

Discovery and naming

Fossils of Coahuilaceratops were discovered by Claudio de Leon near the town of Porvenir de Jalpa in the south of Coahuila, Mexico in 2001 and excavated in 2003. [3] The deposits where the remains were found were originally assigned to the Cerro del Pueblo Formation [2] (upper Campanian; ca. 73–72.5 Ma), but in a 2024 stratigraphic revision they were assigned to the overlying Cerro Huerta Formation (lower Maastrichtian; about 71.5–70.5 million years). This makes Coahuilaceratops the first dinosaur described from the Cerro Huerta Formation. The lower Maastrichtian age of the deposits is consistent with the relatively derived phylogenetic position of Coahuilaceratops. [1]

Over the course of two years, the Coahuilaceratops fossils were prepared by volunteer preparator Jerry Golden at the Natural History Museum of Utah. [3] The holotype CPC 276 is represented mainly by unarticulated bones of the skull of an adult individual: rostral bone, left premaxilla, right maxilla, fused nasal bones, incomplete left and right supraorbital horncores, part of the parietosquasomal frill, predentary, both dentaries, and unprepared postcranial material. Another specimen, CPC 277, contains unarticulated juvenile skeletal elements, including predentary, dentary, and unprepared postcranial material. [2]

The name of the dinosaur was mentioned in the press in 2008 as an informal designation ( nomen nudum ). [4] Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna was formally described by paleontologists Mark A. Loewen, Scott D. Sampson, Eric K. Lund, Andrew A. Farke, Martha C. Aguillón Martínez  [ es ], Claudio A. de Leon, Rubén A. Rodríguez de la Rosa, Michael A. Getty, and David A. Eberth in 2010. The generic name combines "Coahuila", the state of origin, with the Ancient Greek suffix "-ceratops", meaning "horned face", which is common for ceratopsians. The specific name refers to the large size of horns and comes from the Latin word "magna", meaning "great", and the Spanish word "cuerna", meaning "horn". [2]

Description

Life restoration Life reconstruction of Coahuilaceratops (cropped).png
Life restoration

According to estimates given in a press release from the Natural History Museum of Utah (2010), an adult Coahuilaceratops was about 22 ft (6.7 m) long, 6 to 7 ft (1.8 to 2.1 m) tall at the shoulders and hips, with a 6 ft (1.8 m) skull and 3 to 4 ft (0.91 to 1.22 m) horns, and probably weighed about four to five tons. [3] Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 4 meters (13 ft) m and weight at 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) ton in 2016 and 1.5 metric tons (1.7 short tons) tons in 2024. [5] [6]

Although the horns of Coahuilaceratops are not completely preserved, their absolute size is comparable to the size of the horns of the largest chasmosaurines, such as Triceratops and Torosaurus . The hyperrobust morphology of the horns of Coahuilaceratops (relative lack of constriction in the distal region) is more reminiscent of large specimens of Pentaceratops than of Agujaceratops . [2]

Classification

In the phylogenetic analysis performed by the authors of the Coauilaceratops description, Loewen et al. (2010), it was found in a polytomy with Anchiceratops and Arrhinoceratops , with which it was found in a sister clade of Triceratopsini. [2] Triceratopsins include Triceratops and all taxa closer to Triceratops than to Anchiceratops and Arrhinoceratops. [7]

According to analysis conducted by Brown & Henderson (2015), Coahuiceratops is a sister genus of Bravoceratops within a clade that includes a number of other non-triceratopsin chasmosaurines, with Anchiceratops and Arrhinoceratops still forming a sister clade of Triceratopsini. [8] One of the Mallon al. (2016) analyzes confirmed that Coahuilaceratops and Bravoceratops are sister taxa, but the study authors had to remove the fragmentary Bravoceratops from the analysis to obtain more meaningful results. [9] Dalman et al. (2022) found Coahuilaceratops in a polytomy with Bravoceratops and Sierraceratops . The researchers suggested that a clade containing these three genera was endemic to southern Laramidia. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

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

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

Nasutoceratops is genus of ceratopsid dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous period, about 76.0–75.5 million years ago. The first known specimens were discovered in Utah in the Kaiparowits Formation of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument (GSENM) from 2006 onwards, including a subadult skull with a partial postcranial skeleton and rare skin impressions and two other partial skulls. In 2013, the subadult was made the holotype of the new genus and species Nasutoceratops titusi; the generic name means "large-nosed horned face", and the specific name honors the paleontologist Alan L. Titus for his work at the GSENM. The dinosaur was noted for its large nose in news reports, and later featured in Jurassic World films.

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

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

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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.

References

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