CERATOPS
a dubious plant-eating ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late cretaceous of North America.
Pronunciation: SEH-ruh-tops
Meaning: Horned face
Author/s: Marsh (
1888)
Synonyms: See
below
First Discovery: Montana, USA
Discovery Chart Position: #66
Ceratops montanus
(Montana Horned Face)
Etymology
Ceratops is derived from the Greek "ceras" (horn) and "ops" (face).
The
species epithet,
montanus, refers to its discovery in Montana.
ZooBank registry:
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E437C9CA-6AE7-4D74-8FE3-A24CA99C30AE.
Proceratops montanus (Lull, 1906).
Triceratops montanus (Ostrom and Wellnhofer, 1986).
Discovery
The remains of
Ceratops were discovered in the Judith River Formation at Cow Creek Valley about 16km upstream of where the Judith River meets the Missouri River, by John Bell Hatcher on June 5th, 1888.
The
holotype (USNM 2411) is an occipital condyle (the "knuckle" bone at the base of the skull that forms a joint with the first neck vertebra) and a pair of horn cores.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Campanian
Age range: 80-73 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Herbivore
References
• OC Marsh (1888) "
A new family of horned Dinosauria, from the Cretaceous".
American Journal of Science s3-36(216): 477-478. DOI: 10.2475/ajs.s3-36.216.477.
• Marsh OC (1889) "
Notice of new American Dinosauria".
American Journal of Science. 37(220): 331–336. DOI: 10.2475/ajs.s3-37.220.331 [coins Ceratops horridus]
• Marsh OC (1889) "
Notice of gigantic horned Dinosauria from the Cretaceous".
American Journal of Science 3-38 (224): 173-176. DOI: 10.2475/ajs.s3-38.224.173. [renames Bison alticornis into Ceratops alticornis.]
• Marsh OC (1890) "
Description of new dinosaurian reptiles".
The American Journal of Science. Series 3. 39(229): 81–86. DOI: 10.2475/ajs.s3-39.229.81 [renames Hadrosaurus paucidens into Ceratops paucidens.]
• Hatcher JB, Marsh OC and Lull RS (1907) "
The Ceratopsia".
Monographs of the United States Geological Survey, pp 198.
• Stanton TW and Hatcher JB (1905) "
Geology and paleontology of the Judith River Beds".
United States Geological Survey Bulletin, 257(6): 1–174. DOI: 10.1086/621438. [Ceratops recurvicornis, Ceratops belli, Ceratops canadensis.]
• Lull RS (1906) "
A new name for the dinosaurian genus Ceratops".
The American Journal of Science, series 4, 21(122): 144. DOI: 10.2475/ajs.s4-21.122.144. [coins Proceratops.]
• Dodson P and Currie PJ (1990) "Neoceratopsia". Page 593-618 in Weishampel, Dodson and Osmolska (eds.) "
The Dinosauria. First Edition".
• Trexler D and Sweeney FG (1995) "Preliminary work on a recently discovered ceratopsian (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) bonebed from the Judith River Formation of Montana suggests the remains are of
Ceratops montanus Marsh".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 15(3, Suppl.): 57A.
• Dodson P (1998) "
The Horned Dinosaurs: a Natural History".
• Penkalski P and Dodson P (1999) "The morphology and systematics of
Avaceratops, a primitive horned dinosaur from the Judith River Formation (Late Campanian) of Montana, with the description of a second skull".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 19(4): 692-711. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.1999.10011182
• Mallon JC, Ott CJ, Larson PL, Iuliano EM, Evans DC and Evans AR (2016) "
Spiclypeus shipporum gen. et sp. nov., a Boldly Audacious New Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Judith River Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Campanian) of Montana, USA".
PLOS ONE. 11 (5): e0154218. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154218
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"
CERATOPS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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