Arrhinoceratops
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| Arrhinoceratops Fossil range: Late Cretaceous |
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| Arrhinoceratops brachyops Parks, 1925 |
Arrhinoceratops (meaning "no nose-horn face", derived from the Ancient Greek "a-/α-" "no", rhino-/ρινο- "nose" "cerat-/κερατ-" "horn", "-ops/ωψ" "face") is a genus of ceratopsian dinosaur. The name was coined as its original describer concluded it had no nose-horn, however further analysis revealed this not to be the case. It lived during the Late Cretaceous, though predates its famous relative Triceratops by a few million years, being found in the early Maastrichtian period. Its remains have been found in Canada.
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[edit] Discoveries and species
Described by W. A. Parks in 1925, Arrhinoceratops is known from a partially crushed, slightly distorted skull collected from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of the Red Deer Valley in Alberta in 1923.
Only one species is described, A. brachyops. Other material from Utah, named by Gilmore in 1946, was originally known as A. utahensis, thence transferred to Torosaurus.
[edit] Classification
Arrhinoceratops belonged to the Ceratopsinae (previously known as Chasmosaurinae) within the Ceratopsia (the name is Ancient Greek for "horned face"), a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks which thrived in North America and Asia during the Cretaceous Period, which ended roughly 65 million years ago. It appears to be closely related to Torosaurus.
[edit] Physical description
Since this dinosaur is known only from its skull, scientists know little about its over-all anatomy. The skull features a broad neck frill with two oval shaped openings. Its brow horns were moderately long, but its nose horn was shorter and blunter than most Ceratopsians. Its body is assumed to be typical of the Ceratopsians, and based on the skull it is estimated to be 6 m (20 ft) long when fully grown.
[edit] Diet
Arrhinoceratops, like all Ceratopsians, was a herbivore. During the Cretaceous, flowering plants were "geographically limited on the landscape", and so it is likely that this dinosaur fed on the predominant plants of the era: ferns, cycads and conifers. It would have used its sharp Ceratopsian beak to bite off the leaves or needles.
[edit] Related animals
[edit] References
- Dodson, P. (1996). The Horned Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Pinceton, New Jersey, pp. xiv-346
- http://www.dinosaurvalley.com/Visiting_Drumheller/Kids_Zone/Groups_of_Dinosaurs/index.php
