In Depth
A very interesting discovery, Wendiceratops has been identified as one of the oldest centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaurs so far discovered. At the time of writing only Xenoceratops and Diabloceratops are known to have been older. So far much of what we know about Wendiceratops has been pieced together by fragmentary and partial remains, but these do show us interesting developments in the head ornamentation. Like most ceratopsian genera, Wendiceratops had large triangular osteoderms that were attached to the edges of the neck frill, which are larger as they approached the top. Also, the further up they went, the more they curved around and down. The nasal horn also seems to have been fairly low and blunt, yet still quite large in its development. Brow horns are expected to have been present above the eyes, but so far no complete horns have been found, so their size and shape can so far only be guessed at. In comparison to other ceratopsian dinosaurs, the ornamentation of Wendiceratops seems to be most similar to that of Sinoceratops from China. The discovery of Wendiceratops has helped to reinforce the idea that the ceratopsian dinosaurs were very quickly evolving ever more changing head ornamentation, most probably to more easily tell one species from the next.
By the 2015 naming of Wendiceratops, this genus is now one of five separate ceratopsian dinosaur genera that are known from this part of North America during the Campanian, with the other ceratopsian dinosaur genera including, Albertaceratops, Avaceratops, Judiceratops and Medusaceratops. Ceratopsians would have been some of the principal herbivorous dinosaurs in North America at this time, though hadrosaurs would have also been present, with genera such as Brachylophosaurus, Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus possibly sharing the same landscapes as Wendiceratops. Predatory threats to all these dinosaurs would have come from the large tyrannosaurs, specifically genera such as Daspletosaurus. Smaller predators such as dromaeosaurs and troodonts would have also been common, but perhaps more of a threat to smaller juveniles.
Wendiceratops was named in honour of Wendy Sloboda, the fossil hunter who first discovered the bonebed that the holotype fossils of this dinosaur were later found in 2010, though most fossils from this location were not recovered until 2013-2014 after the overburden (the rock and soil above the deposit) was removed. The species name pinhornensis simply means that the holotype of the type species of the genus came from the Pinhorn Provincial Grazing Reserve.
Further Reading
- Cranial anatomy of Wendiceratops pinhornensis gen. et sp. nov., a centrosaurine ceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian), Alberta, Canada, and the evolution of ceratopsid nasal ornamentation. - PLoS ONE 10(7). - David C. Evans & Michael J. Ryan - 2015.
