Pronunciation: tie-TAN-o-SEH-ruh-tops
Meaning: Giant horn face
Author/s: Longrich (2011)
Synonyms: See below
First Discovery: New Mexico, USA
Discovery Chart Position: #781
Titanoceratops ouranos
(Uranus' Titan Horned Face)Etymology
Titanoceratops is derived from the Greek "Titan" (for the giant pre-Olympian deities), "ceras" (horn) and "ops" (face), alluding to its great size and horned face. The species epithet, ouranous, is named after Uranus (Ouranous), the chief Titan and primordial Sky God from Greek Mythology whose manhood had a rather unfortunate run-in with his son (Cronus) and an adamantine sickle!
Discovery
The remains of Titanoceratops were discovered at Coal Creek in either the upper Fruitland or lower Kirtland Formation (locality data wasn't logged at the time of discovery so precise location of the quarry is no longer known), 5 miles south of Wood Ranch, San Juan County, New Mexico, by Wann Langston Jr, Donald E. Savage
and J. Willis Stovall of the University of Oklahoma in July 1941. The specimen lay untouched at the Oklahoma Museum of
Natural History until 1995 when the plaster jackets encasing it were opened, and the skeleton was prepared and mounted. It was initially identified as a specimen of Pentaceratops sternbergi by Lehman in 1998.
The holotype (OMNH 10165) includes vertebrae from the neck, back, hip and tail, two hip bones and much of the fore and hindlimbs, from a gigantic individual.
Preparator
R. Hazlin.
