MONTANOCERATOPS
a plant-eating leptoceratopsid ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of U.S.A. and Canada.
Pronunciation: mon-TAN-o-SEH-ruh-tops
Meaning: Montana horned face
Author/s: Sternberg (
1951)
Synonyms: Leptoceratops cerorhynchus
First Discovery: Montana, USA
Discovery Chart Position: #189
Montanoceratops cerorhynchus
Etymology
Montanoceratops is derived from "Montana" (the American State in which it was discovered) and the Greek "keras" (horn) and "ops" (face)
The
species epithet,
cerorhynchos, is derived from the Geek "keras" (horn) and "rhynchos" (muzzle, snout).
Discovery
The first confirmed remains of
Montanoceratops were discovered in the St. Mary River Formation, 3 miles west of Buffalo Lake, Glacier County, Montana, by Barnum Brown and Peter C. Kaisen in 1916, but they weren't actually the first to be discovered. In 1910, Brown had found a braincase (AMNH 5244) in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation on the east bank of the Red Deer River, near Tolman Ferry, Alberta, Canada, but it wasn't referred to
Montanoceratops by Makovicky until 2001.
The
holotype (AMNH 5464) is a partial skull and skeleton.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Campanian-Maastrichtian
Age range: 73-67 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 3 meters
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: 70 Kg
Diet: Herbivore
Montanoceratops
cerorhynchus
References
• Brown B and Schlaikjer EM (1942) "
The skeleton of Leptoceratops with the description of a new species".
American Museum Novitates, 1169: 1–15.
• Chinnery BJ and Weishampel DB (1998) "
Montanoceratops cerorhynchus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) and relationships among basal neoceratopsians".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 18(3): 569–585. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.1998.10011085.
• Makovicky PJ (2001) "A
Montanoceratops cerorhynchus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) braincase from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta". Page 243-262 in Tanke and Carpenter (eds.) "
Mesozoic Vertebrate Life".
• Sternberg CM (1951) "Complete skeleton of
Leptoceratops gracilis Brown from the Upper Edmonton Member on Red Deer River, Alberta".
National Museum of Canada Bulletin, 123: 225-255.
• Dodson P (1996) "
The Horned Dinosaurs: a Natural History".
• Chinnery BJ and Weishampel DB (1996) "
Montanoceratops cerorhynchus and the question of monophyly of the Protoceratopsidae".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 16: 27A. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.1996.10011371.
• Ryan MJ, Evans DC, Currie PJ, Brown CM and Brinkman D (2012) "New leptoceratopsids from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada".
Cretaceous Research, 35: 69–80. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2011.11.018.
• Makovicky PJ (2010) "A redescription of the
Montanoceratops cerorhynchus holotype, with a review of referred material". In "
New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium".
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
MONTANOCERATOPS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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