Centrosaurus

Name: Centrosaurus ‭(‬pointed lizard‭)‬.
Phonetic: Sen-tro-sore-us.
Named By: Lawrence Lambe‭ ‬-‭ ‬1904.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Ceratopsidae,‭ ‬Centrosaurinae.
Species: C.‭ ‬apertus‭ (‬type‭)‬,‭ ‬C.‭ ‬brinkmani.
Type: Herbivore.
Size: 6‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: Canada,‭ ‬Alberta‭ ‬-‭ ‬Dinosaur Park Formation,‭ ‬Oldman Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: So many individuals are known,‭ ‬it is impossible to say with certainty how many fossils there actually are.‭ ‬Skin impressions also exist.

       Centrosaurus acquired its named from the numerous bony projections that run along the edges of its frill.‭ ‬Aside from these a large nasal horn extends upwards from the top of the snout,‭ ‬and a pair of small horns project from the eyebrow.‭ ‬Two more hornlets hook down from the top of the frill,‭ ‬although how developed they are depends upon the species,‭ ‬being most pronounced in C.‭ ‬apertus.‭ ‬The nasal horn is also known to curve either forwards or backwards,‭ ‬and may be indicative of species.
       Even though it was not large for a ceratopsian,‭ ‬Centrosaurus was not small either.‭ ‬Remains of numerous individuals including the remains of several hundred dinosaurs in a bone bed indicate that Centrosaurus was one of the most common dinosaurs of the time and location,‭ ‬and may have moved around in herds numbering hundreds of individuals.‭ ‬However,‭ ‬the herding theory is but one interpretation of the site ait may also indicate a doomed watering hole that vanished during a drought.‭ ‬Study of the bone bed has also revealed Styracosaurus remains on top of the Centrosaurus remains,‭ ‬leaving some to believe that Styracosaurus may have displaced Centrosaurus as the main herbivore of the area.
       Centrosaurus has been used as the base of the ceratopsian group centrosaurinae.‭ ‬The ceratopsian dinosaurs of this group are noted for having short neck frills and single nasal horn,‭ ‬although some members do have brow horns,‭ ‬as well as further spikes that can and often do extend from the edges of the frill.‭ ‬Other ceratopsains of the centrosaurinae include Einiosaurus,‭ ‬Styracosaurus,‭ ‬Diabloceratops and Pachyrhinosaurus among others.
       Centrosaurus was also at the centre of a naming controversy in‭ ‬1915‭ ‬with the discovery and naming of the stegosaurid Kentrosaurus.‭ ‬Although alternative names for Kentrosaurus were created,‭ ‬they were not needed as it was still spelled differently to Centrosaurus.‭ ‬On top of this they are also pronounced differently,‭ ‬Kentrosaurus with a kicking‭ '‬K‭'‬,‭ ‬and Centrosaurus with a soft‭ '‬C‭' ‬pronounced as‭ '‬See‭'‬.

Further reading
- On the squamoso-parietal crest of the horned dinosaurs Centrosaurus apertus and Monoclonius canadensis from the Cretaceous of Alberta - Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, series 2 10(4):1-9 - 1904.
- On the status of the ceratopsids Monoclonius and Centrosaurus - P. Dodson - 1990 - In K. Carpenter & P. J. Currie (eds.). Dinosaur Systematics: Perspectives and Approaches. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 231–243.
- Taphonomy of three dinosaur bone beds in the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation, northwestern Montana: Evidence for drought-related mortality - PALAIOS (SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology) 5 (5): 394–41 - R. R. Rogers - 1990.
- Craniofacial ontogeny in centrosaurine dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae): taphonomic and behavioral phylogenetic implications - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 121 (3): 293–337 - S. D. Sampson, M. J. Ryan & D. H. Tanke - 1997.
- Ceratopsian bonebeds: occurrence, origins, and significance - David A. Eberth & Michael A. Getty - 2005 - In Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 501–536 - Phillip J. Currie & Eva Koppelhus.
- A new centrosaurine ceratopsid from the Oldman Formation of Alberta and its implications for centrosaurine taxonomy and systematics - Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 42 (7): 1369–1387 - M. J. Ryan & A. P. Russel - 2005.
- Craniofacial ontogeny in Centrosaurus apertus. - PeerJ - J. A. Frederickson & A. R. Tumarkin-Deratzian - 2014.
- First case of osteosarcoma in a dinosaur: a multimodal diagnosis". The Lancet Oncology. 21 (8): 1021−1022. - Seper Ekhtiari, Kentaro Chiba, Snezana Popovic, Rhianne Crowther, Gregory Wohl, Andy Kin On Wong, Darren H Tanke, Danielle M Dufault, Olivia D Geen, Naveen Parasu, Mark A Crowther & David C Evans - 2020.

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