Ceratops

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Ceratops

Ceratops (meaning "horn face") was a ceratopsian dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
which lived during the Late Cretaceous

Late Cretaceous

Late Cretaceous refers to the second half of the Cretaceous Period , named after the famous white chalk cliffs of southern England, which date from this time....
. Its fossils have been found in Montana

Montana

Montana is a U.S. state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains....
and Alberta, Canada. Although poorly known, Ceratops is important in the history of dinosaurs, since it is the type species

Type species

In taxonomy, a type species is the species that originally defined a genus . It is an individual specimen that fixes the name of a genus . Two different definitions are used interchangeably, in a general term and a botanical term....
upon which both Ceratopsia

Ceratopsia

Ceratopsia or Ceratopia is a group of herbivore, beaked dinosaurs which thrived in what are now North America and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period , although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassic....
and Ceratopsidae

Ceratopsidae

Ceratopsidae is a speciose group of marginocephalian dinosaurs including Triceratops and Styracosaurus. All known species were quadrupedal herbivores from the Upper Cretaceous of Western North America and are characterized by beaks, rows of shearing teeth in the back of the jaw, and elaborate horns and frills....
are based. Unfortunately, the material is too poor to be diagnostic and Ceratops is considered a nomen dubium
Nomen dubium

In ICZN, a nomen dubium is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Note that in the ICBN and ICNB the phrase "nomen dubium" has no status....
. More complete material recently found in Colorado

Colorado

The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
may enable Ceratops to be reexamined (Trexler & Sweeney, 1995).

first remains referred to Ceratops (an occipital

Occipital

The word occipital refers to several areas of the human body in the occiput, the rear of the skull:* Occipital bun* Occipital lobe* Occipital bone...
condyle

Condyle

A Condyle is the knuckle of any joint, a round projection, rounded articular area one of the markings/features of bones, can refer to:* Lateral condyle Femur and Tibia...
and a pair of horn cores) were found by John Bell Hatcher

John Bell Hatcher

John Bell Hatcher was an USA paleontologist and fossil hunter best known for discovering Torosaurus.Born in Cooperstown, Illinois, Illinois, his farmer father moved the family when Hatcher was young to Cooper, Iowa, where he received his early education....
(1861-1904) in the summer of 1888 in the Judith River Formation

Judith River Formation

The Judith River Formation is a fossil-bearing geologic formation in Montana, and is part of the Judith River Group. It dates to the upper Cretaceous....
of Montana.

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Encyclopedia

Ceratops (meaning "horn face") was a ceratopsian dinosaur

Dinosaur

Late Cretaceous

Montana

Type species

Ceratopsia

Ceratopsidae

Colorado

History

The first remains referred to Ceratops (an occipital

Occipital

The word occipital refers to several areas of the human body in the occiput, the rear of the skull:* Occipital bun* Occipital lobe* Occipital bone...
condyle

Condyle

John Bell Hatcher

Judith River Formation

The Judith River Formation is a fossil-bearing geologic formation in Montana, and is part of the Judith River Group. It dates to the upper Cretaceous....
of Montana. O. C. Marsh originally believed the animal to be similar to Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus is a genus of Stegosauria Thyreophora dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well....
, but with two horns on its head.

Classification

Ceratops belonged to the Ceratopsia (the name is Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
for "horned face"), a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot

Parrot

File:Ara ararauna -eating -Wilhelma Zoo-8-2rc.jpgParrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genus that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most warm and tropical regions....
-like beaks which thrived in North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
during the Cretaceous Period, which ended roughly 65 million years ago. It is the first named member of the subfamily popularly known as Chasmosaurinae which has been renamed Ceratopsinae under ICZN

ICZN

ICZN may refer to:*International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, an organization*International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, published by that organization...
rules.

In 1999, Penkalski and Dodson concluded Ceratops is a nomen dubium

Nomen dubium

In ICZN, a nomen dubium is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Note that in the ICBN and ICNB the phrase "nomen dubium" has no status....
because the material is too meager. They add that Avaceratops
Avaceratops

Avaceratops is a genus of small ceratopsian dinosaur which lived during the late Campanian during the Late Cretaceous Period in what is now the Northwest United States....
appears closely related and may even be a juvenile Ceratops but there is just not enough material to prove it.

Species

Type:

Ceratops montanus Marsh 1888 (USNM 2411)

Others:

C. (Bison) alticornis (Marsh 1887/1889). This was the famous pair of horn cores that were originally thought by Marsh to be from a giant bison
Bison

Bison is a taxonomic group containing six species of large even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Only two of these species still exist: the American bison and the European bison, or wisent , each with two subspecies....
. Marsh realized his error in 1889 and referred the horns to his Ceratops. Today they are recognized as the first Triceratops
Triceratops

Triceratops is an extinct genus of herbivore Ceratopsidae dinosaur which lived during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period , around 68 to 65 mya in what is now North America....
remains found and are, to date, the southernmost known Triceratops fossils. Even as Triceratops, it also is a nomen dubium
Nomen dubium

In ICZN, a nomen dubium is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Note that in the ICBN and ICNB the phrase "nomen dubium" has no status....
.
C. (Chasmosaurus
Chasmosaurus

Chasmosaurus is a genus of Ceratopsidae dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Period of North America. Its name means 'opening lizard', referring to the large openings in its frill ....
) belli (Lambe 1902/Hatcher vide Stanton & Hatcher 1905)
C. (Eoceratops) canadensis (Lambe 1902/Hatcher vide Stanton & Hatcher 1905)
C. (Triceratops) horridus (Marsh 1889). This was the first intact ceratopsian skull discovered and led Marsh to realize the significance of the other specimens. As with the aforementioned species, it too is currently recognized as Triceratops.
C. paucidens (Marsh 1889/1890); nomem dubium included with Lambeosaurus
Lambeosaurus

Lambeosaurus is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived about 76 to 75 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period of North America....
lambei
C. (Chasmosaurus) recurvicornis (Cope 1890/Hatcher vide Stanton & Hatcher 1905)

Diet

Ceratops, like all Ceratopsians, was a herbivore

Herbivore

Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism, known as an herbivore, heterotrophs principally autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria....
. During the Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide, is a geologic period from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period....
, flowering plants were "geographically limited on the landscape", and so it is likely that this dinosaur fed on the predominant plants of the era: fern

Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta....
s, cycads and conifers. It would have used its sharp Ceratopsian beak to bite off the leaves or needles.

Ceratops

History

Classification

Species

Diet

External links