Ceratopsia

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Ceratopsia
Live reconstruction of Pentaceratops

Live reconstruction of Pentaceratops

Temporal occurrence
Upper Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous ( Oxfordian to Maastrichtian )
163.5 to 66 million years
Locations
Systematics
Ornithodira
Dinosaur (dinosauria)
Pelvic dinosaur (Ornithischia)
Cerapoda
Marginocephalia
Ceratopsia
Scientific name
Ceratopsia
Marsh , 1890

The Ceratopsia (also Ceratopia , Germanized Ceratop (s) ier ) are a species-rich group of herbivorous bird pelvic dinosaurs (Ornithischia). They lived mainly in the Cretaceous period and were characterized by a neck shield and often horns. Fossil finds come almost exclusively from East Asia and North America . The best-known representatives include the Psittacosauridae , Protoceratopsidae and Ceratopsidae , which include Triceratops and other horned dinosaurs.

features

Triceratops Skull : The rostral bone at the tip of the upper jaw is an exclusive feature of the Ceratopsia.

The Ceratopsia developed a great variety of shapes and differed considerably in their physique. The smallest representatives were only 1 to 2 meters long, while the largest such as Triceratops reached up to 8 meters in length and weighed several tons. The front legs were always shorter than the hind legs, more primitive representatives often moved biped (on two legs), while others like the Ceratopsidae were quadruped (four-legged).

Exclusive feature of Ceratopsia is the rostral bone , which was at the top of the upper jaw, while the counterpart to the all Vogelbeck dinosaurs existing before dental located in the lower jaw predentary formed. These two bones are responsible for the pointed snout of the animals, often described as parrot-beak-like. Other autapomorphies are the greatly enlarged intermaxillary bone and the high nostrils. The cheek region was broad and expansive. The nasal bone had a horn or a bony hump in several representatives, and horns could also be present above the eyes - especially in the Ceratopsidae.

The teeth were designed for a plant-based diet. More ancient Neoceratopsia still had teeth in the intermaxillary bone, whereas the Psittacosauridae and the Ceratopsidae lacked them. The tooth batteries (teeth arranged in rows, which were replaced by the following tooth when worn) of the Ceratopsidae were particularly specialized.

In the course of the development of the Ceratopsia, a neck shield has developed, which was formed from the parietal and scale bones . In the Psittacosauridae it was still missing, while in some Ceratopsidae it could be as long as the actual skull. Including the shield, the skull of some Ceratopsidae measured over 2 meters, which is the longest skull of all land-dwelling animals.

Paleobiology

Live reconstruction of 18 species of basal ceratopsia

Ceratopsia are known from a large number of localities and have inhabited different habitats. Bone beds are known from some representatives - Prenoceratops and several Ceratopsidae . These are mass deposits in which the fossil remains of dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of animals have been preserved. Even if it is difficult to draw conclusions, at least some representatives may have lived in associations with conspecifics for a certain part of the year.

Many Ceratopsia had horns or bones on the head and a neck shield. The purpose of this headdress is seen less in the defense against predators than in the interaction with conspecifics. Accordingly, horns, humps or shields were used for identification, display or arguments, they might have revolved around territorial boundaries or mating privileges. This hypothesis agrees that some genera, such as Protoceratops , also show a sexual dimorphism and that horns and neck shields were much less pronounced in young animals.

The Ceratopsia were herbivores. What they have in common is the pointed beak, which was suitable for selective feeding. The structure of the teeth varied: in Psittacosaurus, for example, they were still quite simple, in Ceratopsidae the teeth were transformed into tooth batteries with a vertical occlusal surface that made it possible to cut up the food. The diet could have consisted of cycads , ferns , conifers, and palms .

Ceratopsia, like all dinosaurs, laid eggs. In some genera, Psittacosaurus or Protoceratops , all stages of development from hatchling to adult are known. A finding of Psittacosaurus from one adult and 34 juveniles may suggest parental care.

Development history and distribution

The oldest finds of Ceratopsia come from the Upper Jura . The oldest known representative to date is Yinlong , who lived about 161 to 155 million years ago. With the exception of the poorly preserved Chaoyangsaurus and Xuanhuaceratops , all other Ceratopsia date from the Cretaceous period . Towards the end of the Cretaceous Period, the Ceratopsidae in particular developed a wealth of shapes. During the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous 65 million years ago, like all non-avian dinosaurs, they became extinct.

Almost all of the Ceratopsia finds come from East Asia and western North America . The oldest finds come from East Asia; Yinlong , the Psittacosauridae and the Protoceratopsidae are known from this part of the world. For example, the majority of the Leptoceratopsidae and the Ceratopsidae lived in western North America - which was separated from the rest of the continent by a sea. There are three poorly preserved fossils that could possibly indicate a larger distribution area of ​​this group of dinosaurs: Serendipaceratops from Australia, Notoceratops from South America and a fossil from eastern North America that has not been given a scientific name. Clarity about the exact distribution area can only bring more meaningful findings.

Systematics

External system

The Pachycephalosauria , characterized by a thickened skull roof, are the sister group of the Ceratopsia (living reconstruction ).

The Ceratopsia are counted within the dinosaurs in the bird pelvic dinosaur (Ornithischia). Its sister group is formed by the pachycephalosauria , which is characterized by the thickened skull roof , and together they form the marginocephalia . The discovery of Yinlong , the most primitive representative of Ceratopsia, in 2006 confirmed the close relationship between Ceratopsia and Pachycephalosauria, as Yinlong combines features of both groups of dinosaurs.

The position of the Ceratopsia within the dinosaurs is expressed in the following simplified cladogram:


  dinosaur  

 Lizard dinosaur (Saurischia)


  Pelvic dinosaur  (Ornithischia) 
  Cerapoda  

 Ornithopoda


  Marginocephalia  

 Pachycephalosauria 


   

 Ceratopsia




   

Thyreophora (including stego- and ankylosauria )





Internal system

The generic list below largely follows You et al. (2004) and Dodson et al. (2004), but includes taxa described since then.

Ceratopsia

Yinlong
Psittacosaurus
Protoceratops
Leptoceratops
Zuniceratops
Centrosaurus
Einiosaurus
Chasmosaurus
Triceratops

A simplified cladogram of Ceratopsia looks like this:

 Ceratopsia  
  NN  

 Psittacosauridae


  Neoceratopsia  

 basal neoceratopsia


  Coronosauria  

 Protoceratopsidae


  NN  

 Leptoceratopsidae


  Ceratopsoidea  

 Zuniceratops


   

 Ceratopsidae







   

 Yinlong



The position of the Chaoyangsauridae ( Chaoyangsaurus and Xuanhuaceratops ), which are either the sister group of the Neoceratopsia or their most basic representatives, is disputed . It is also not completely clear whether the Protoceratopsidae or the Leptoceratopsidae are more closely related to the Ceratopsidae.

designation

The name Ceratopsia was coined by Marsh in 1890. It was named after Ceratops ( latinization of ancient Greek κέρας kéras 'horn' and ὤψ ōps 'face'; literally also 'horn face'), a poorly preserved find from 1888. Actually, the forms would be 'Ceratopia' and 'Ceratopidae' (each without s ) grammatically correct, many frameworks still use the incorrect designations coined by Marsh.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ u. a. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , Online ( Memento of the original from July 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / press.princeton.edu
  2. ↑ Nicholas R. Longrich. A ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of eastern North America, and implications for dinosaur biogeography. Cretaceous Research, 2016; 57: 199 doi: 10.1016 / j.cretres.2015.08.004
  3. ↑ Fenglu Han, Catherine A. Forster, James M. Clark and Xing Xu. 2015. A New Taxon of Basal Ceratopsian from China and the Early Evolution of Ceratopsia. PLoS ONE. doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0143369
  4. ↑ Andrew A. Farke, W. Desmond Maxwell, Richard L. Cifelli and Mathew J. Wedel. 2014. A Ceratopsian Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Western North America, and the Biogeography of Neoceratopsia. PLoS ONE . doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0112055
  5. ↑ James I. Kirkland , Donald D. DeBlieux: New basal centrosaurine ceratopsian skulls from the Wahweap Formation (Middle Campanian), Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, southern Utah. In: Michael J. Ryan, Brenda J. Chinnery-Allgeier, David A. Eberth: New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs. The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN et al. a. 2010, ISBN 978-0-253-35358-0 , pp. 117-140.
  6. ^ Andrew T. McDonald, John R. Horner : New Material of "Styracosaurus" ovatus from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana. In: Michael J. Ryan, Brenda J. Chinnery-Allgeier, David A. Eberth (Eds.): New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs. The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN et al. a. 2010, ISBN 978-0-253-35358-0 , pp. 156-168.
  7. ↑ Xing Xu , KeBai Wang, XiJin Zhao , DunJing Li: First ceratopsid dinosaur from China and its biogeographical implications. In: Chinese Science Bulletin. Vol. 55, No. 16, 2010, ISSN  1001-6538 , pp. 1631-1635, doi: 10.1007 / s11434-009-3614-5 .
  8. ↑ Andrew A. Farke, Michael J. Ryan, Paul M. Barrett , Darren H. Tanke, Dennis R. Braman, Mark A. Loewen, Mark R. Graham: A new centrosaurine from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada, and the evolution of parietal ornamentation in horned dinosaurs. In: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. Vol. 56, No. 4, 2011, ISSN  0567-7920 , pp. 691-702, doi: 10.4202 / app.2010.0121 .
  9. ↑ David C. Evans, Michael J. Ryan. 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, 2015; 10 (7): e0130007 doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0130007
  10. ↑ a b c Scott D. Sampson, Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke, Eric M. Roberts, Catherine A. Forster, Joshua A. Smith, Alan L. Titus: New Horned Dinosaurs from Utah Provide Evidence for Intracontinental Dinosaur Endemism . In: PLoS ONE . Vol. 5, No. 9, 2010, e12292, doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0012292 .
  11. ↑ Michael J. Ryan, Anthony P. Russell, Scott Hartman: A New Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid from the Judith River Formation, Montana. In: Michael J. Ryan, Brenda J. Chinnery-Allgeier, David A. Eberth: New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs. The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN et al. a. 2010, ISBN 978-0-253-35358-0 , pp. 181-188.
  12. ↑ Nicholas R. Longrich: Mojoceratops perifania, A New Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid from the Late Campanian of Western Canada. In: Journal of Paleontology. Vol. 84, No. 4, 2010, ISSN  0022-3360 , pp. 681-694, doi: 10.1666 / 09-114.1 .
  13. ^ Robert M. Sullivan, Spencer G. Lucas: A New Chasmosaurine (Ceratopsidae, Dinosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Ojo Alamo Formation (Naashoibito Member), San Juan Basin, New Mexico. In: Michael J. Ryan, Brenda J. Chinnery-Allgeier, David A. Eberth: New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs. The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN et al. a. 2010, ISBN 978-0-253-35358-0 , pp. 169-180.
  14. ↑ Christopher J. Ott, Peter L. Larson: A New, Small Ceratopsian Dinosaur from the Latest Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, Northwest South Dakota, United States: A Preliminary Description. In: Michael J. Ryan, Brenda J. Chinnery-Allgeier, David A. Eberth: New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs. The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN et al. a. 2010, ISBN 978-0-253-35358-0 , pp. 203-218.
  15. ↑ Nicholas R. Longrich: Titanoceratops ouranos, a giant horned dinosaur from the late Campanian of New Mexico. In: Cretaceous Research. Vol. 32, No. 3, 2011, ISSN  0195-6671 , pp. 264-276, doi: 10.1016 / j.cretres.2010.12.007 .
  16. ^ Wilhelm Gemoll : Greek-German school and hand dictionary. 9th edition, reviewed and expanded by Karl Vretska ; with an introduction to the history of language by Heinz Kronasser. Freytag u. a., Munich a. a. 1965.

Web links

Commons : Ceratopsia  - collection of images, videos and audio files