Medusaceratops
Name:
Medusaceratops
(Medusa horned face).
Phonetic: Me-dew-sa-seh-ra-tops.
Named By: Ryan, Russel, & Hartman - 2010.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithicshia, Ceratopsia, Ceratopsidae, Centrosaurinae.
Species: M. lokii (type).
Type: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain due to incomplete fossil material.
Known locations: USA, Montana - Judith River
Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Two partial parietal bones
(the upper part of the frill).
Medusaceratops
acquired its name from the way that the upper horns on the frill curve
downwards,
which gave the vague of impression of the snakes that rise out of the
head of Medusa in Greek mythology. Medusaceratops
was initially
described as a chasmosaurine ceratopsian
dinosaur, the kind with a
very large neck frill instead of enlarged brow horns. However,
later studies, confirmed by the discovery of new fossil material
have revealed that Medusaceratops is in fact a
centrosaurine
ceratopsian dinosaur, the kind with overly developed horns instead of
a neck frill.
Like
other ceratopsian dinosaurs, Medusaceratops was a
quadrupedal
herbivore browsing upon low growing vegetation. Other herbivorous
dinosaur around at the same time and locations as Medusaceratops
would
have primarily consisted of hadrosaurs,
ankylosaurs
and nodosaurs,
while predatory threats would have principally come from tyrannosaurs
and also dromaeosaurs,
especially when younger.
Further reading
- A new chasmosaurine ceratopsid from the Judith River Formation,
Montana. - New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell
Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press, Bloomington
181-188. - M. J. Ryan, A. P. Russell & S. Hartman - 2010.
- New material and systematic re-evaluation of Medusaceratops
lokii
(Dinosauria, Ceratopsidae) from the Judith River Formation (Campanian,
Montana). - Journal of Paleontology. - Kentaro Chiba, Michael J. Ryan,
Federico Fanti, Mark A. Loewen & David C. Evans - 2018.
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