| Wendiceratops Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
|---|---|
| |
| An artist's illustration Wendiceratops pinhornensis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| clade: | Dinosauria |
| Family: | †Ceratopsidae |
| Genus: | †Wendiceratops Evans & Ryan, 2015 |
| Species: | †W. pinhornensis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Wendiceratops pinhornensis Evans & Ryan, 2015 | |
Wendiceratops (meaning Wendy Sloboda's horned face) is a genus of herbivorous centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Canada.[1] The type species is Wendiceratops pinhornensis.
Discovery and Naming[]
In 2010, Canadian fossil hunter Wendy Sloboba found The holotype (TMP 2011.051.0009) in the Pinhorn Provincial Grazing Reserve south of Alberta. In 2011, a team of the Royal Tyrrell Museum explored the site and began excavating fossils. In 2013 and 2014, numerous fossils were discovered.[1] In 2015, paleontologists David Evans and Michael Ryan named the type species Wendiceratops pinhornensis. The generic name combines Wendy Sloboda with a Latin word ceratops, The specific name refers to the provenance from the Pinhorn Reserve.[1] Wendiceratops was the second ceratopsian discovered in 2015.[2] It was found in a layer of the Oldman Formation, dating from the Campanian. The layer of mudstone, forty centimetres thick and possibly deposited in a single event, has an upper age of 79 million years and a lower age of 78.7 million years. The holotype consists of a right parietal bone. Under the assumption that the bonebed contained only a single centrosaurine species, all additional centrosaurine material was referred to Wendiceratops pinhornensis, for a total of 184 specimens representing several individuals, including juveniles. The bones are composed of elements from the skull, lower jaws, vertebral column, shoulder girdle, pelvis and limbs. They are largely disarticulated.
Description[]
Wendiceratops was one ton heavy and a length of about six meters.[2]The describing authors indicated two unique traits. On the rear rim of the skull frill, the second and third epiparietals, the skin ossifications attached to the rim, have a wide base, are vertically thick and curve obliquely upwards to the front, overhanging the rear and outer side branches of the parietal bone. The ischium has an expanded rectangular lower end.[1]Wendiceratops is further distinguished by the lack of a vertical spike on the rear frill and an erect nose horn.
Classification[]
Wendiceratops was placed in the Centrosaurinae, as a sister species to Sinoceratops.
Paleobiology[]
The nose horn of Wendiceratops, erect but moderate size, was by the authors seen as a transition between the low horns of earlier forms like Diabloceratops, Nasutoceratops and Albertaceratops and the much taller horns of derived centrosaurines such as Coronosaurus, Centrosaurus and Styracosaurus.[1]
Gallery[]
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References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 (2015) "Cranial Anatomy of Wendiceratops pinhornensis gen. et sp. nov., a Centrosaurine Ceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian), Alberta, Canada, and the Evolution of Ceratopsid Nasal Ornamentation". PLOS ONE 10 (7): e0130007. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0130007.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/wendiceratops-horned-dinosaur-fossil-adds-evolutionary-hook-n388786