Machairoceratops
Name:
Machairoceratops
(bent sword horned face).
Phonetic: Mak-air-o-seh-rah-tops.
Named By: E. K. Lund, P. M. O'Connor,
M. A. Loewen & Z. A. Jinnah - 2016.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Ceratopsidae, Centrosaurinae.
Species: M. cronusi (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Holotype skull roughly reconstructed to have
been about one meter long. Total body size uncertain.
Known locations: USA, Utah - Wahweap Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial and fragmentary
remains of the posterior skull and horns.
Machairoceratops is a genus of centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur that lived in North America during the late Cretaceous. At the time of the genus description in 2016, Machairoceratops is only known from partial skull and horn remains. We can however ascertain a few facts about this dinosaur. One is that Machairoceratops was a centrosaurine ceratopsian, a type known to have favoured elaborate growths of horns as opposed to having a huge neck frill. Another is that Machairoceratops had two large horns growing up from the brow. Finally there were two more horns that grew from the top of the frill and then curved forwards. It is these two horns that were the inspiration for the name Machairoceratops which translates as ‘bent sword horned face’.
Further reading
- A new centrosaurine ceratopsid, Machairoceratops cronusi
gen et
sp. nov., from the Upper Sand Member of the Wahweap Formation
(Middle Campanian), southern Utah. - PLoS ONE 11(5) -
E. K. Lund, P. M. O'Connor, M. A. Loewen &
Z. A. Jinnah - 2016.
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