Notoceratops

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Notoceratops
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
~77–66  Ma
Notoceratops mandible.jpg
Holotype mandible
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dracohors
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Genus: Notoceratops
Tapia, 1918
Species:
N. bonarellii
Binomial name
Notoceratops bonarellii
Tapia, 1918
Synonyms
  • Notoceratops bonarelliTapia, 1918; von Huene, 1929 (sic)
  • Notoceratops BonarelliTapia, 1918

Notoceratops (meaning "southern horned face") is a dubious genus of extinct ornithischian dinosaur based on an incomplete, toothless left dentary (now lost) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia (in Argentina), probably dating to the Campanian or Maastrichtian. It was most likely a ceratopsian [1] and it was found in the Lago Colhué Huapi Formation.

Contents

Discovery and naming

In 1918, palaeontologist Augusto Tapia (1893–1966) discovered the genus holotype. He also named the type species, N. bonarellii (originally spelt as Notoceratops Bonarelli), in 1918. [2] The generic name is derived from Greek notos, "the south", keras, "horn" and ops, "face". The specific name honours Guido Bonarelli (1871-1951), who advised Tapia in his study of the find. By present conventions the epithet is spelled bonarellii, thus without a capital B. In many later publications the specific name is misspelled "bonarelli", with a single "i", from the incorrect assumption it would be derived from a Latinised "Bonarell~ius". The fossil, found near the Lago Colhué Huapi in Chubut, was eventually described by Friedrich von Huene in 1929, [3] but it has since been lost. [4]

Phylogeny

Originally referred as a ceratopsian by Tapia in 1918, it was later dismissed because no other members of that group were known from the Southern Hemisphere. However, the 2003 discovery of another possible ceratopsian, Serendipaceratops , from Australia could change this view. [5] Notoceratops has since been considered a nomen dubium and may have been a hadrosaur instead. [6] An analysis published by Tom Rich et al. in 2014, which focused on the validity of Serendipaceratops, also examined the published material from Notoceratops. They concluded that the holotype had ceratopsian features and that the genus is probably valid. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceratopsia</span> Extinct suborder of Dinosaurs

Ceratopsia or Ceratopia is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassic. The earliest known ceratopsian, Yinlong downsi, lived between 161.2 and 155.7 million years ago. The last ceratopsian species, Triceratops prorsus, became extinct during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, 66 million years ago.

<i>Argyrosaurus</i> Genus of herbivorous titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur

Argyrosaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur that lived about 70 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now Argentina.

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

Aeolosaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now South America. Like most sauropods, it would have been a quadrupedal herbivore with a long neck and tail. Aeolosaurus is well known for a titanosaur, as it is represented by the remains of several individuals belonging to at least two species. However, like most titanosaurs, no remains of the skull are known. The holotype of Aeolosaurus rionegrinus consists of a series of seven tail vertebrae, as well as parts of both forelimbs and the right hindlimb. It was discovered in the Angostura Colorada Formation in Argentina, which dates from the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, about 83 to 74 million years ago. The species A. maximus was transferred over to the new genus Arrudatitan in 2021.

Agustinia is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of South America. The genus contains a single species, A. ligabuei, known from a single specimen that was recovered from the Lohan Cura Formation of Neuquén Province in Argentina. It lived about 116–108 million years ago, in the Aptian–Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous Period.

Serendipaceratops is a genus of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaur, possibly an ankylosaur, from the early Cretaceous Period of Australia. The type species, S. arthurcclarkei, was named in 2003.

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

Notohypsilophodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina. It was described as the only "hypsilophodont" known from South America, although this assessment is not universally supported, and Gasparinisaura is now believed to have been a basal euornithopod as well.

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Loncosaurus is an extinct genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina. The type species is Loncosaurus argentinus, described by the famous Argentinian paleontologist Florentino Ameghino, but is considered a dubious name. Details on this animal are often contradictory, befitting a genus that was long confused for a theropod.

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

Macrogryphosaurus is a genus of elasmarian dinosaur from the Coniacian age Upper Cretaceous Sierra Barrosa Formation of Argentina in Patagonia. It was described by Jorge Calvo and colleagues in 2007, with M. gondwanicus as the type and only species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Colonia Formation</span> Geological formation in Argentina

The La Colonia Formation is a geological formation in Argentina whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.

The Laguna Palacios Formation is a Maastrichtian geologic formation of the Chubut Group in the Golfo San Jorge Basin in Patagonia, Argentina. The formation partly overlies and partly is laterally equivalent to the Lago Colhué Huapí Formation and is overlain by the Salamanca Formation of the Río Chico Group. The formation comprises tuff reworked by fluvial activity and paleosols. The Laguna Palacios Formation has provided fossilized bee nests. Dinosaur remains, such as Notoceratops, diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.

Comahuetherium is an extinct genus of astrapotherian mammal from the Early Miocene. It is a basal astrapotheriid which lived in what is now Patagonia, Argentina. The holotype was found in the Cerro Bandera Formation in Neuquén Province, northern Patagonia and additional specimens were found at the Gran Barranca south of Lake Colhué Huapi, in Chubut Province of central Patagonia. It was first named by Alejandro Kramarz and Mariano Bond in 2011 and the type species is Comahuetherium coccaorum.

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

Trinisaura is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived during the late Campanian stage of the Upper Cretaceous, around 73 to 72 million years ago in what is now James Ross Island off the coast of northern Antarctica near Patagonia. It is known from a single, incomplete postcranial skeleton that includes several vertebrae, a partial pelvis, and nearly complete right hindlimb. The fossils were collected in 2008 by paleontologists Juan Moly and Rodolfo Coria from the sandstone of the Snow Hill Island Formation. It remained undescribed in the collections of the Museo de La Plata until its description by Coria and colleagues in 2013, being the basis of the novel genus and species Trinisaura santamartaensis. The genus name is to commemorate the efforts of Argentine geologist Trinidad "Trini" Diaz and the Latin root -sauros, meaning "lizard". The species name is after Santa Marta Cove, where the fossils were collected.

Sektensaurus is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur, possibly an elasmarian, from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Patagonia, Argentina. Its remains were uncovered in the fluvial tuffs of the Lago Colhué Huapí Formation in the Golfo San Jorge Basin. The type and only species is S. sanjuanboscoi.

The Lago Colhué Huapí Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation of the Chubut Group in the Golfo San Jorge Basin in Patagonia, Argentina. The formation, named after Lake Colhué Huapí, is overlain by the Salamanca Formation of the Río Chico Group and in some areas by the Laguna Palacios Formation.

Colhuehuapisuchus is an extinct genus of peirosaurid notosuchian known from the Late Cretaceous Lago Colhué Huapí Formation in Argentina. It contains a single species, Colhuehuapisuchus lunai.

References

  1. 1 2 Rich, Thomas H.; Kear, Benjamin P.; Sinclair, Robert; Chinnery, Brenda; Carpenter, Kenneth; McHugh, Mary L.; Vickers-Rich, Patricia (2014-10-02). "Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei Rich & Vickers-Rich, 2003 is an Australian Early Cretaceous ceratopsian". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 38 (4): 456–479. Bibcode:2014Alch...38..456R. doi:10.1080/03115518.2014.894809. ISSN   0311-5518. S2CID   128686247.
  2. Tapia, A. (1918), "Una mandibula de dinosaurio procedente de Patagonia", Physis4: 369–370
  3. F. von Huene, 1929, Los saurisquios y ornitisquios del Cretacéo Argentino. Anales del Museo de La Plata (series 3). 3, 1-196
  4. Coria R, Cambiaso A (2007). "Ornithischia". In Gasparini Z, Salgado L, Coria R (eds.). Patagonian Mesozoic reptiles. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 167–187. ISBN   9780253348579. OCLC   758738548.
  5. T. Rich and P. Vickers-Rich. 2003. Protoceratopsian? ulnae from Australia. Records of the Queen Victoria Museum Launceston 113:1-12
  6. Ibiricu, Lucio M.; Martínez, Rubén D.; Lamanna, Matthew C.; Casal, Gabriel A.; Luna, Marcelo; Harris, Jerald D.; Lacovara, Kenneth J. (August 2010). "A Medium-Sized Ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Upper Cretaceous Bajo Barreal Formation of Lago Colhué Huapi, Southern Chubut Province, Argentina" (PDF). Annals of Carnegie Museum. 79 (1): 39–50. doi:10.2992/007.079.0103. ISSN   0097-4463. S2CID   53407321.