Pronunciation: oo-NESS-co-SEH-ruh-tops
Meaning: Unesco horn face
Author/s: Ryan, Evans, Currie, et al. (2012)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Alberta, Canada
Discovery Chart Position: #809
Unescoceratops koppelhusae
Despite being known only from a partial lower jaw, scientists have deduced that Unescoceratops is a member of Ceratopsia: a group of herbivorous dinosaurs that culminated in the ginormous, horn-faced, skull-frilled Triceratops.
But more specifically, it belongs to Leptoceratopsidae: a fairly primitive family of ceratopsians that are modestly-sized and lack brow horns, have little to nothing in the way of a nose horn and sport relatively small frills. Unescoceratops was so small, in fact, that fodder any higher than 0.5 meters was out of reach when browsing on all fours. However, rearing up on its hind legs would result in an increase in reach, but only to the point at which its tail—stiffened by interwoven bony struts—touched the floor and blocked hip pivot. Finding a rock or log to stand on would have been amazingly beneficial.
Unescoceratops' teeth are unique in being more rounded than those of other leptoceratopsids, which, the authors claim, has implications for the entire evolution of the Leptoceratopsidae. Unfortunately, we don't know what those utterly important implications are because an unscrupulous publisher has locked them up behind a "pay wall", and the price of a glimpse is astronomical, with none of the monies being pumped back into science, we might add.
Unescoceratops' teeth are unique in being more rounded than those of other leptoceratopsids, which, the authors claim, has implications for the entire evolution of the Leptoceratopsidae. Unfortunately, we don't know what those utterly important implications are because an unscrupulous publisher has locked them up behind a "pay wall", and the price of a glimpse is astronomical, with none of the monies being pumped back into science, we might add.
Etymology
Unescoceratops is derived from "UNESCO" (an acronym of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, who designated Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park as a World Heritage Site) and the Greek "ceras" (horn) and "-ops" (face). The species epithet, koppelhusae, is named to honour Eva B. Koppelhus, in recognition of her contributions to vertebrate paleontology and palynology—the study of microscopic objects of macromolecular organic composition.
Discovery
The type remains of Unescoceratops were discovered at Bonebed 55 of the Dinosaur Park Formation in the "Steveville badlands", Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada, by Philip Currie in 1995. They were described in 1998 and referred to as Leptoceratops sp.
The holotype (TMP 95.12.6) is a partial left dentary (tooth-bearing bone of the lower jaw).
A partial right dentary (TMP 74.10.31), also from Dinosaur Provincial Park, and probably from the Dinosaur Park Formation, although the exact locality and stratigraphic position is unknown, was referred to Unescoceratops by Ryan et al. in 2012.
