Name:
Montanoceratops
(Montana horned face).
Phonetic: Mon-tan-ah-ser-ah-tops.
Named By: C. M. Sternberg - 1951.
Synonyms: Leptoceratops cerorhynchos.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Cerapoda, Ceratopsia, Leptoceratopsidae.
Species: M. cerorhynchos (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Approximately 3 meters long.
Known locations: USA, Montana - St Mary River
Formation.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Several specimens, usually of
partial remains.
The
material that would be named as Montanoceratops was
originally assigned
to Leptoceratops
as a second species in 1935 as Leptoceratops
cerorhynchos. However the original remains were
incomplete and when
further and more complete material was discovered by C. M. Sternbergi
this second species of Leptoceratops was realised
to be a different
albeit similar genus.
Like
Leptoceratops, Montanoceratops
had a primitive ceratopsian
body form,
similar to the dinosaurs that would evolve into the more famous larger
forms such as Centrosaurus
and Triceratops.
However the much later
appearance of Montanoceratops means that it would
have shared the North
American landscape with these other larger and more advanced forms.
Aside from its general body plan, two features that betray its
primitive form are the presence of teeth in its upper jaw, and claws on
its feet.
The
tail of Montanoceratops is notable for having tall
neural spines on the
caudal vertebrae, a feature that significantly increased its depth.
This would suggest that with the lack of horns and head crests,
Montanoceratops may have used its tail to signal and
display to other
members of its species.
Further reading
- Complete skeleton of Leptoceratops gracilis Brown
from the Upper
Edmonton Member on Red Deer River, Alberta. - National Museum of Canada
Bulletin 123:225-255. - C. M. Stermberg - 1951.
- Montanoceratops cerorhynchus and the question of
monophyly of the
Protoceratopsidae. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 16. - B. J.
Chinnery & D. B. Weishampel - 1996.
- Montanoceratops cerorhynchus (Dinosauria:
Ceratopsia) and
relationships among basal neoceratopsians. - Journal of Vertebrate
Paleontology 18 (3): 569–585. - B. J. Chinnery & D. B.
Weishampel - 1998.
- A Montanoceratops cerorhynchus (Dinosauria:
Ceratopsia) braincase
from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, by P. J. Makovicky. In
Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, D. H. Tanke & K. Carpenter - 2001.