Titanoceratops
Name:
Titanoceratops
(Titan horned face).
Phonetic: Tie-tan-o-seh-rah-tops.
Named By: Nicholas R. Longrich - 2011.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Ceratopsia, Ceratopsidae, Chasmosaurinae,
Triceratopsini.
Species: T. ouranos (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Skull estimated about 2.4-2.6 meters long.
Known locations: USA, New Mexico.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull, mandible
(lower jaw) as well as post cranial remains.
Initially
thought to represent a large Pentaceratops
individual, Titanoceratops
was declared its own genera after further study found the material to
belong to a new, although still very similar, ceratopsian
dinosaur. The large size of Titanoceratops was
the inspiration for
the new genera name, with the species name T. ouranos
derived from
the Titan Ouranos, who in Greek mythology was the first ruler of the
Titans.
Because
of the size of the skull Titanoceratops is thought
to have been comparable to
the world famous ceratopsian dinosaur
Triceratops.
Because of its huge size
Titanoceratops probably did not
have to worry too much about attack once fully grown. Even the large
predators known from the same region and time such as the tyrannosaurid
Bistahieversor
may have restricted themselves to attacking younger
individuals that had not yet fully grown.
Further reading
- Titanoceratops ouranos, a giant horned dinosaur
from the Late
Campanian of New Mexico. - Cretaceous Research 32 (3): 264–276 - N. R.
longrich - 2011.
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