Navajoceratops

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Navajoceratops
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, ~75.0–73.4  Ma
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Navajoceratops.png
Holotype parietals from the front and back
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Ceratopsia
Family: Ceratopsidae
Subfamily: Chasmosaurinae
Genus: Navajoceratops
Fowler and Freedman Fowler, 2020
Type species
Navajoceratops sullivani
Fowler and Freedman Fowler, 2020

Navajoceratops (meaning "Navajo horned face") is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of what is now North America. The genus contains a single species, N. sullivani, named after Robert M. Sullivan, leader of the expeditions that recovered the holotype. [1]

Geological map of the southeast San Juan Basin; A (lower right) is where the holotype was found Geological map of the southeast San Juan Basin.png
Geological map of the southeast San Juan Basin; A (lower right) is where the holotype was found

The holotype specimen, SMP VP-1500, collected in 2002, consists of a partial skull. It was discovered in the Campanian Hunter Wash Member of the Kirtland Formation, New Mexico. [1] It was informally named in 2016. [2]

Navajoceratops was a member of the Chasmosaurinae. Alongside fellow chasmosaurine Terminocavus , also from the Kirtland Formation and described in the same paper, Navajoceratops was found to represent a stratigraphic and morphological intermediate between Pentaceratops and Anchiceratops . Navajoceratops was also found to be marginally less derived than Terminocavus. [1]

Chasmosaurinae

Chasmosaurus

Vagaceratops

Kosmoceratops

Coahuilaceratops

Pentaceratops

Utahceratops

Navajoceratops

Terminocavus

Anchiceratops

Arrhinoceratops

Triceratopsini

See also

Related Research Articles

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

Chasmosaurus is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Period of North America. Its name means 'opening lizard', referring to the large openings (fenestrae) in its frill. With a length of 4.3–4.8 metres (14.1–15.7 ft) and a weight of 1.5–2 tonnes, Chasmosaurus was a ceratopsian of average size. Like all ceratopsians, it was purely herbivorous. It was initially to be called Protorosaurus, but this name had been previously published for another animal. All specimens of Chasmosaurus were collected from the Dinosaur Park Formation of the Dinosaur Provincial Park of Alberta, Canada. Referred specimens of C. russelli come from the lower beds of the formation while C. belli comes from middle and upper beds.

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

Pentaceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of what is now North America. Fossils of this animal were first discovered in 1921, but the genus was named in 1923 when its type species, Pentaceratops sternbergii, was described. Pentaceratops lived around 76–73 million years ago, its remains having been mostly found in the Kirtland Formation in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico. About a dozen skulls and skeletons have been uncovered, so anatomical understanding of Pentaceratops is fairly complete. One exceptionally large specimen later became its own genus, Titanoceratops, due to its more derived morphology, similarities to Triceratops, and lack of unique characteristics shared with Pentaceratops.

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

Nodocephalosaurus is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the De-na-zin member of the Kirtland Formation. The type and only species, Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis, is known only from a partial skull. It was named in 1999 by Robert M. Sullivan. Nodocephalosaurus has an estimated length of 4.5 metres and weight of 1.5 tonnes. It is closely related and shares similar cranial anatomy to Akainacephalus.

<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.

Kirtland Formation Geological formation in New Mexico and Colorado, United States

The Kirtland Formation is a sedimentary geological formation.

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

Agujaceratops is a genus of horned dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of west Texas. It is a chasmosaurine (long-frilled) ceratopsian. Two species are known, Agujaceratops mariscalensis, and A. mavericus.

Fruitland Formation

The Fruitland Formation is a geologic formation found in the San Juan Basin in the states of New Mexico and Colorado, in the United States of America. It contains fossils dating it to the Campanian age of the late Cretaceous.

Chasmosaurinae Extinct subfamily of dinosaurs

Chasmosaurinae is a subfamily of ceratopsid dinosaurs. They were one of the most successful groups of herbivores of their time. Chasmosaurines appeared in the early Campanian, and became extinct, along with all other non-avian dinosaurs, during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Broadly, the most distinguishing features of chasmosaurines are prominent brow horns and long frills lacking long spines; centrosaurines generally had short brow horns and relatively shorter frills, and often had long spines projecting from their frills.

Aguja Formation

The Aguja Formation is a geological formation in North America, exposed in Texas, United States and Chihuahua and Coahuila in Mexico, whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.

<i>Coahuilaceratops</i> Genus of dinosaur

Coahuilaceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur. It is a chasmosaurine ceratopsian which lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now southern Coahuila in northern Mexico. It is known from the holotype CPC 276, a partial skeleton of an adult individual which includes several skull elements. Another specimen, CPS 277, may represent a juvenile Coahuilaceratops. All specimens of Coahuilaceratops were collected from a single location in the middle strata of the Cerro del Pueblo Formation, which dates to between 72.5 and 71.4 million years ago.

<i>Kosmoceratops</i> Dinosaur genus from the Late Cretaceous period

Kosmoceratops is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur that lived in North America about 76–75.9 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. Specimens were discovered in Utah in the Kaiparowits Formation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 2006 and 2007, including an adult skull and postcranial skeleton and partial subadults. In 2010, the adult was made the holotype of the new genus and species Kosmoceratops richardsoni; the generic name means "ornate horned face", and the specific name honors Scott Richardson, who found the specimens. The find was part of a spate of ceratopsian discoveries in the early 21st century, and Kosmoceratops was considered significant due to its elaborate skull ornamentation.

<i>Vagaceratops</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Vagaceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur. It is a chasmosaurine ceratopsian which lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Alberta. Its fossils have been recovered from the Upper Dinosaur Park Formation.

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

Titanoceratops is a controversial genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur. It was a giant chasmosaurine ceratopsian that lived in the Late Cretaceous period in what is now New Mexico. Titanoceratops was named for its large size, being one of the largest known horned dinosaurs and the type species was named T. ouranos, after Uranus (Ouranos), the father of the Greek titans. It was named in 2011 by Nicholas R. Longrich for a specimen previously referred to Pentaceratops. Longrich believed that unique features found in the skull reveal it to have been a close relative of Triceratops, classified within the subgroup Triceratopsini. However, other researchers have expressed skepticism, and believe "Titanoceratops" to simply be an unusually large, old specimen of Pentaceratops.

Triceratopsini Extinct tribe of dinosaurs

Triceratopsini is a tribe of herbivorous chasmosaurine dinosaurs that lived between the late Campanian to the late Maastrichtian stages of the Cretaceous period, between 74.73 and 66 million years ago. Fossils of these animals have been found in western North America, in particular West Canada, Western and Midwestern United States, which was once part of the ancient continent of Laramidia. The tribe was named by Nicholas R. Longrich in 2011 for the description of Titanoceratops, which he defined as "all species closer to Triceratops horridus than to Anchiceratops ornatus or Arrhinoceratops brachyops". Triceratopsins were the largest of the chasmosaurines; suggesting that gigantism had evolved in the Ceratopsidae once. In addition there is an evolutionary trend in the solidification of the frills, the most extreme being in Triceratops.

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

Ahshislepelta is a monospecific genus of ankylosaur dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Hunter Wash Member of the Kirtland Formation. The type and only species, Ahshislepelta minor, is known only from an incomplete postcranial skeleton of a small subadult or adult individual. It was named in 2011 by Michael Burns and Robert M. Sullivan. Based on the size of the humerus, Ahshislepelta is larger than Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus but smaller than Talarurus and Pinacosaurus grangeri.

<i>Navajodactylus</i> Genus of azhdarchoid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous

Navajodactylus is an extinct genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from Late Cretaceous deposits of the San Juan Basin in New Mexico, United States.

Bravoceratops is a genus of large chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur that lived approximately 70 million years ago, and is known from the Late Cretaceous Javelina Formation in what is now Texas, United States.

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

Mercuriceratops is an extinct genus of herbivorous chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada and Montana, United States. It contains a single species, Mercuriceratops gemini.

<i>Terminocavus</i> Genus of ceratopsid dinosaurs (fossil)

Terminocavus is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of what is now North America. The genus contains a single species, the type species Terminocavus sealeyi, known from a parietal and some other associated fragments. The holotype specimen was discovered in the Kirtland Formation of New Mexico in 1997, and was later described and named in a 2020 study. It was similar in anatomy to Pentaceratops and Anchiceratops, which it was closely related to, but had a distinctive heart-shaped upper frill with very narrow notch. It has been hypothesized to form an anagenetic series with several other chasmosaur species.

<i>Sierraceratops</i> Genus of chasmosaurine dinosaur (fossil)

Sierraceratops is a genus of chasmosaurine ceratopsian from the Late Cretaceous Hall Lake Formation of New Mexico, United States. The genus contains a single species, Sierraceratops turneri, known from a partial skeleton discovered in 1997.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Fowler, D.W.; Freedman Fowler, E.A. (2020). "Transitional evolutionary forms in chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaurs: evidence from the Campanian of New Mexico". PeerJ. 8: e9251. doi: 10.7717/peerj.9251 . PMC   7278894 . PMID   32547873.
  2. Denver Warwick Fowler (April 2016). "Dinosaurs and time: chronostratigraphic frameworks and their utility in analysis of dinosaur paleobiology". scholarworks.montana.edu. Retrieved 17 February 2019.