Tatankaceratops

Name: Tatankaceratops ‭ (‬Bison horn face‭)‬.
Phonetic: Ta-tank-ah-seh-rah-tops.
Named By: Christopher J.‭ ‬Ott‭ & ‬Peter L.‭ ‬Larson‭ ‬-‭ ‬2010.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Ceratopsia,‭ ‬Ceratopsidae,‭ ‬Chasmosaurinae.
Species: T.‭ ‬sacrisonorum‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain due to lack of remains.
Known locations: USA,‭ ‬South Dakota‭ ‬-‭ ‬Hell Creek Formation.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Single partial skull.

       The Tatankaceratops type specimen was pieced together from partial remains before it was named in‭ ‬2010,‭ ‬and soon after there were murmurings that it was actually a juvenile Triceratops.‭ ‬This stems down to a‭ ‬2011‭ ‬study by Nicholas R.‭ ‬Longrich which noted a mix of juvenile and adult characteristics in the skull.‭ ‬Since this time other palaeontologists have expressed their suspicions about Tatankaceratops with the two main theories being that it is either a juvenile Triceratops‭ ‬or one that has a growth defect that stunted its development.

Further reading
- A New, Small Ceratopsian Dinosaur from the Latest Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, Northwest South Dakota, United States: A Preliminary Description. - Christopher J. Ott & Peter L. Larson. - In, New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium, Bloomington, Indiana University Press - M. J. Ryan, B. J. Chinnery-Allgeier & D. A. Eberth - 2010.
- Titanoceratops ouranos, a giant horned dinosaur from the Late Campanian of New Mexico. - Cretaceous Research. 32 (3): 264–276. - Nicholas R. Longrich - 2011.
- Triceratops with a kink: Co-ossification of five distal caudal vertebrae from the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota. - Cretaceous Research, 108 (2020): 104355. - Matthew M. Canoy Illies & Denver W. Fowler - 2011.

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