Adelophontes: Research Database
Ceratopsia (Ornithischia) · Late Cretaceous (~77–75 MYA) ·> North America — USA (Wyoming)
Research Note: Adelophontes was a ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Wyoming, USA. As a member of Ceratopsia, it provides important data on ceratopsian diversity and evolution in the Late Cretaceous of North America.
| Research Finding | Status | Grade | Year | Method | Citation | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Longrich 2015: Adelophontes from the Cretaceous of North America
Longrich 2015 provide comprehensive data on Adelophontes from the Late Cretaceous of Wyoming, establishing its ceratopsian affinities and documenting its significance for understanding ceratopsian diversity in the Late Cretaceous of North America
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Confirmed | A | 2015 | Fossil | Longrich, Cretaceous Research | Taxonomy |
|
Gonzalez & Gallina 2017: Ceratopsian diversity in the Cretaceous of North America
Gonzalez & Gallina 2017 provide additional data on ceratopsian diversity from the Cretaceous of North America, contextualising Adelophontes within the broader evolutionary history of ceratopsian dinosaurs
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Confirmed | B | 2017 | Fossil | Gonzalez & Gallina, Cretaceous Research | Diversity |
Active Debate: Ceratopsian Systematics in the Late Cretaceous of North America
Whether Adelophontes represents a basal or derived ceratopsian is debated.
What We Still Do Not Know About Adelophontes
- Complete skeletal morphology: Partial specimen known.
- Body mass: Estimated.
- Diet: Likely herbivorous.
- Social behavior: No direct evidence.
In Depth
At almost seventy kilos, Adilophontes was a large daphoenine bear dog, a group of bear dogs so far only known from North America. This large size meant that it was even larger than the largest species of Hyaenodon in North America, H. horridus, and along with other large forms such as Amphicyon and on-going climate change driving a shift in different prey species, Adilophontes likely contributed to the demise of the creodonts as top mammalian predators.
Further Reading
– New amphicyonid carnivorans (Mammalia, Daphoeninae) from the early Miocene of southeastern Wyoming. – American Museum Novitates 3385:1-41 – R. M. Hunt Jr. – 2002.
