Polyonax
Polyonax | ||||||||||||
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Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
Upper chalk | ||||||||||||
68 to 66 million years | ||||||||||||
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Polyonax | ||||||||||||
Cope , 1874 |
Polyonax is agenus of bird pelvic dinosaurs (Ornithopoda) from the group of Ceratopsia, knownonly from sparse fossil finds .
From polyonax only fragments of horns and some were vertebral found. Since too little data are available for a precise systematic investigation, Polyonax is considered a nomen dubium .
The fossil remains of this dinosaur were found in the US state of Colorado and described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1874 . The type and only known species is P. mortuarius . It was the second Ceratopsia discovered after Agathaumas and, like this one, did not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the appearance of these animals. It wasn't until 15 years later - after the discovery of Triceratops - that it was possible to guess what it would look like.
Polyonax is dated in the Upper Cretaceous (late Maastrichtian ) to an age of 68 to 66 million years. It is therefore the same age as Triceratops , possibly even the same genus.
literature
- Peter Dodson , Catherine A. Forster, Scott D. Sampson: Ceratopsidae. In: David B. Weishampel , Peter Dodson, Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria . 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 494-513.