Albertaceratops
Name:
Albertaceratops
(Alberta horned face).
Phonetic: Al-ber-tah-seh-rah-tops.
Named By: Ryan - 2007.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Ceratopsidae, Centrosaurinae.
Species: A. nesmoi
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Roughly up to 6 meters long.
Known locations: Canada, Alberta - Oldman
Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Single skull.
The
fact that Albertaceratops has large and well
developed brow horns on
what is in essence a centrosaurine skull has led to the thinking that
Albertaceratops is a basal centrosaurine
ceratopsian.
Later members
of the group would develop considerably reduced brow horns.
Albertaceratops had no nasal horn but instead had a
bony growth on top
of its snout, similar to that of Pachyrhinosaurus.
The top of the
frill has two small horns that strongly curve out to the sides.
Additional remains from Montana once thought to belong to
Albertaceratops have now been named Medusaceratops.
The
type species name of Albertaceratops, A.
nesmoi, is based upon
the name Cecil Nesmo, a rancher who in the past has aided fossil
hunters.
Further reading
- A new basal centrosaurine ceratopsid from the Oldman Formation,
southeastern Alberta - Journal of Paleontology 81(2):376-396 - M. J.
Ryan - 2007.
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