Furcatoceratops

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Furcatoceratops
Temporal range: Campanian
~75.9–75.3  Ma
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Furcatoceratops2.jpg
Skeletal mount of F. elucidans exhibited at a limited exhibition event in the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Ceratopsia
Family: Ceratopsidae
Subfamily: Centrosaurinae
Tribe: Nasutoceratopsini
Genus: Furcatoceratops
Ishikawa et al., 2023
Type species
Furcatoceratops elucidans
Ishikawa et al., 2023

Furcatoceratops (meaning "forked horned face") is a genus of centrosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Judith River Formation of Montana. The type species is Furcatoceratops elucidans. [1]

Contents

Discovery and naming

NSM PV 24660, which is the holotype specimen Furcatoceratops.jpg
NSM PV 24660, which is the holotype specimen

The holotype specimen, NSM PV 24660, is a nearly complete disarticulated skeleton of a moderately-sized subadult. The skeleton preserves, among other elements, numerous elements of the skull, a nearly complete left front- and hindlimb, parts of the pelvis and most of the vertebral column. The specimen was excavated from Triebold Paleontology Incorporated’s “12-020” site, a quarry in the Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation in Fergus County, Montana. The quarry is located approximately 7 kilometres North-West of the town of Winifred. NSM PV 24660 was collected from rocks of the upper Coal Ridge Member, lying approximately 20 meters below the overlying Bearpaw Formation. Based on a Bayesian geochronological model from a 2022 study by Ramezani et al., the horizon from which the holotype was collected is recovered as approximately 75.6 (~75.3-75.9) Ma. [1] [2]

The holotype is currently housed at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tsukuba, Japan, and was named as a new genus and species of ceratopsid in 2023. The generic name, Furcatoceratops, comes from the Latin furcatus, meaning "forked", and the Greek ceratops meaning "horned face". The specific name, elucidans, is Latin for "enlightening". [1]

Classification

Skull of the holotype Furcatoceratops skull.jpg
Skull of the holotype
Life restoration Furcatoceratops.png
Life restoration

In the 2023 study that first described the animal, Furcatoceratops was included in a phylogenetic analysis with other ceratopsian dinosaurs and found to nestle within the clade Nasutoceratopsini. Other members of this clade of early branching centrosaurines include Avaceratops and Nasutoceratops , both also hailing from the Campanian of the United States. [1]

Leptoceratops gracilis

Coronosauria
Protoceratopsidae

Protoceratops andrewsi

Bagaceratops rozhdestvenskyi

Ceratopsoidea

Zuniceratops christopheri

Turanoceratops tardabilis

Ceratopsidae
Chasmosaurinae

Chasmosaurus belli

Pentaceratops sternbergii

Centrosaurinae

Diabloceratops eatoni

Machairoceratops cronusi

Nasutoceratopsini

ANSP 15800 ( Avaceratops holotype)

CMN 8804

MOR 692 (cf. Avaceratops)

Nasutoceratops titusi

Furcatoceratops elucidans

Xenoceratops foremostensis

Albertaceratops nesmoi

Medusaceratops lokii

Wendiceratops pinhornensis

Sinoceratops zhuchengensis

Eucentrosaura

Coronosaurus brinkmani

Centrosaurus apertus

Spinops sternbergorum

Styracosaurus albertensis

Styracosaurus ovatus

Stellasaurus ancellae

Pachyrhinosaurini

Einiosaurus procurvicornis

Achelousaurus horneri

Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai

Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis

Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum

Paleoenvironment

The Judith River Formation has produced the remains of several dinosaurs, several of which have been recovered in the early days of paleontology, as well as others identified more recently. Among others, Furcatoceratops coexisted with fellow ceratopsids Avaceratops , Medusaceratops , and Spiclypeus , the hadrosaur Brachylophosaurus , the ankylosaur Zuul , the tyrannosaur Daspletosaurus , and the giant alligatoroid Deinosuchus . [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

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

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

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

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

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

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<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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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centrosaurinae</span> Extinct subfamily of dinosaurs

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

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<i>Coahuilaceratops</i> Genus of dinosaur

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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. 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 partial skulls. In 2013, the adult 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 paleotologist 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.

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

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.

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

Judiceratops is an extinct horned dinosaur. It lived around 78 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period in what is now Montana, United States. Like other horned dinosaurs, Judiceratops was a large, quadrupedal herbivore. It is the oldest known chasmosaurine.

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

This timeline of ceratopsian research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the ceratopsians, a group of herbivorous marginocephalian dinosaurs that evolved parrot-like beaks, bony frills, and, later, spectacular horns. The first scientifically documented ceratopsian fossils were described by Edward Drinker Cope starting in the 1870s; however, the remains were poorly preserved and their true nature was not recognized. Over the next several decades, Cope named several such genera and species. Cope's hated rival, Othniel Charles Marsh, also described ceratopsian remains. In 1887, Marsh mistook a Triceratops horn for one belonging to a new species of prehistoric Bison. Marsh also named the eponymous genus Ceratops in 1888. The next year, he named the most famous ceratopsian, Triceratops horridus. It was the discovery of Triceratops that illuminated the ceratopsian body plan, and he formally named the Ceratopsia in 1890.

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

Wendiceratops is a genus of herbivorous centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Canada.

<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

  1. 1 2 3 4 Ishikawa, H.; Tsuihiji, T.; Manabe, M. (2023). "Furcatoceratops elucidans, a new centrosaurine (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae) from the upper Campanian Judith River Formation, Montana, USA". Cretaceous Research. 105660. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105660.
  2. Ramezani, Jahandar; Beveridge, Tegan L.; Rogers, Raymond R.; Eberth, David A.; Roberts, Eric M. (2022-09-26). "Calibrating the zenith of dinosaur diversity in the Campanian of the Western Interior Basin by CA-ID-TIMS U–Pb geochronology". Scientific Reports. 12 (1): 16026. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-19896-w. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   9512893 . PMID   36163377.
  3. Trexler, David; Murphy, Nate; Thompson, Mark (June 2007). ""Leonardo," a Mummified Brachylophosaurus (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae) from the Judith River Formation of Montana". In Carpenter, Kenneth (ed.). Horns and Beaks. IU Office of Scholarly Publishing Herman B Wells Library E350 1320 E 10th Street E4 Bloomington, IN 47405-3907: Indiana University Press. pp. 117–133.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  4. 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.
  5. Fowler, Denver Warwick (2017-11-22). "Revised geochronology, correlation, and dinosaur stratigraphic ranges of the Santonian-Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) formations of the Western Interior of North America". PLOS ONE. 12 (11): e0188426. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1288426F. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188426 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   5699823 . PMID   29166406.
  6. Schwimmer, David (2002). King of the Crocodylians: The Paleobiology of Deinosuchus. 601 North Morton Street, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. p. 200.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. Carr, Thomas D. (2018). "Significant geographic range extension for the sympatric tyrannosaurids Albertosaurus libratus and Daspletosaurus torosus from the Judith River Formation (Late Campanian) of northern Montana" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 38 (Supplement 1): 102.