Diabloceratops
Encyclopedia
Diabloceratops is a genus
of herbivorous dinosaur
in the infraorder Ceratopsia
. It lived in and around Utah
during the Campanian
stage.
, Diabloceratops eatoni, was named and described in 2010 by James Ian Kirkland and Donald DeBlieux. The genus name combines the Spanish diablo, "devil", a reference to the horns on the neck shield, with a Latinised Greek keratops, "horn face", a usual element in ceratopian names. The specific name honours paleontologist Jeffrey Eaton.
The fossil, holotype
UMNH VP 16699, was in 2002 found by DeBlieux in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
and consists of a partial skull with a piece of the lower jaw.
and Styracosaurus
.
It being one of the earliest centrosaurine ceratopsids, Kirkland noted a character Diabloceratops shared with the more "primitive" protoceratopsid
forms. Both possess an accessory opening in the skull that would become much reduced or disappear in later, more advanced ceratopsids. Kirkland saw this as an indication that the earlier species were not together included in some single natural group but instead presented a gradual sequence of ever more derived forms, increasingly closer related to the Ceratopsidae.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of herbivorous dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
in the infraorder Ceratopsia
Ceratopsia
Ceratopsia or Ceratopia is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs which 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...
. It lived in and around Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
during the Campanian
Campanian
The Campanian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch . The Campanian spans the time from 83.5 ± 0.7 Ma to 70.6 ± 0.6 Ma ...
stage.
Name
The type speciesType species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
, Diabloceratops eatoni, was named and described in 2010 by James Ian Kirkland and Donald DeBlieux. The genus name combines the Spanish diablo, "devil", a reference to the horns on the neck shield, with a Latinised Greek keratops, "horn face", a usual element in ceratopian names. The specific name honours paleontologist Jeffrey Eaton.
The fossil, holotype
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
UMNH VP 16699, was in 2002 found by DeBlieux in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument contains 1.9 million acres of land in southern Utah, the United States. There are three main regions: the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons of the Escalante. President Bill Clinton designated the area as a U.S. National...
and consists of a partial skull with a piece of the lower jaw.
Description
Diabloceratops was built like a typical ceratopsian in that it had a large neck frill made of bone. It had a small horn on the nose, perhaps a second horn in front of that, and a pair of relatively small horns above the eyes. Upon the frill it also had a pair of very long spikes, like in EiniosaurusEiniosaurus
Einiosaurus is a medium-sized centrosaurine ceratopsian from the Upper Cretaceous of northwestern Montana. The name means 'buffalo lizard', in a combination of Blackfeet Indian and Latinized Ancient Greek; the specific name Einiosaurus is a medium-sized centrosaurine (“short-frilled”)...
and Styracosaurus
Styracosaurus
Styracosaurus was a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period , about 76.5 to 75.0 million years ago...
.
It being one of the earliest centrosaurine ceratopsids, Kirkland noted a character Diabloceratops shared with the more "primitive" protoceratopsid
Protoceratopsid
A protoceratopsid is a dinosaur of the family Protoceratopsidae. The name 'protoceratopsid' is derived from Greek for 'first horned face'. They resembled and were closely related to, ceratopsids but were generally smaller and more primitive...
forms. Both possess an accessory opening in the skull that would become much reduced or disappear in later, more advanced ceratopsids. Kirkland saw this as an indication that the earlier species were not together included in some single natural group but instead presented a gradual sequence of ever more derived forms, increasingly closer related to the Ceratopsidae.