Regaliceratops

Regaliceratops (meaning "royal horned face") is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur that lived during the late Cretaceous period, about 68 million years ago in what is now Alberta, Canada.[1][2]

Regaliceratops
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 68.5–67.5 Ma
Skull of Regaliceratops on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Canada
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Family: Ceratopsidae
Subfamily: Chasmosaurinae
Tribe: Triceratopsini
Genus: Regaliceratops
Brown & Henderson, 2015
Type species
Regaliceratops peterhewsi
Brown & Henderson, 2015

Discovery

Restoration with Hypacrosaurus and Leptoceratops

Closely related to Triceratops, Regaliceratops was named for its plated frill, which its describers thought looked somewhat like a crown. In 2005, geologist Peter Hews discovered a skull at the Oldman River (St. Mary River Formation) in Alberta. The fossil was secured by a team of the Royal Tyrrell Museum. The specimen was given the nickname "Hellboy" for its horns and the difficulty of removing it from the matrix.[3]

In 2015, Caleb Marshall Brown and Donald Henderson named and described the type species Regaliceratops peterhewsi. The generic name combines Latin regalis, "royal", a reference to both the crown-shaped neck shield and the "Royal" Tyrrell, with a Greek keras, "horn", and ops, "face". The specific name honours Hews.[1]

Skull from the front

The holotype, TMP 2005.055.0001, was found in a layer of the St. Mary River Formation dating from the middle Maastrichtian, about 68 million years old. It consists of a rather complete skull of which the snout bone, the rostrum, is lacking. The skull has been deformed by compression and its rear and underside are obscured by the matrix.[1]

Regaliceratops was about five metres long, with an estimated weight of 1.5 tonnes.[4]

Systematics

Regaliceratops was resolved as a member of the Triceratopsini by Brown and Henderson (2015).[1][2] However, in 2016 a study by Mallon et al. did not resolve Regaliceratops as a triceratopsin.[5]

Phylogeny

Phylogeny of Brown & Henderson, 2015.[1][2]

Triceratopsini

Regaliceratops peterhewsi

Eotriceratops xerinsularis

Ojoceratops fowleri

Titanoceratops ouranos

Nedoceratops hatcheri

Torosaurus latus

Torosaurus utahensis

Triceratops horridus

Triceratops prorsus

Phylogeny of Mallon et al., 2016.[5]

Anchiceratops ornatus

Regaliceratops peterhewsi

Arrhinoceratops brachyops

Triceratopsini

Ojoceratops fowleri

Titanoceratops ouranos

Nedoceratops hatcheri

Torosaurus latus

"Torosaurus" utahensis

Triceratops prorsus

Triceratops horridus

See also

References

  1. Brown, Caleb M.; Henderson, Donald M. (June 4, 2015). "A new horned dinosaur reveals convergent evolution in cranial ornamentation in Ceratopsidae". Current Biology. 25 (online): 1641–8. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.04.041. PMID 26051892.
  2. "New species of horned dinosaur with 'bizarre' features revealed". Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  3. "'Hellboy' dinosaur rewrites the prehistory book". 3 News. 5 June 2015.
  4. Will Dunham, 2015, "Meet 'Hellboy,' the dinosaur with exotic horns and frill", Reuters 04 June 2015
  5. Jordan C. Mallon, Christopher J. Ott, Peter L. Larson, Edward M. Iuliano and David C. Evans (2016). "Spiclypeus shipporum gen. et sp. nov., a Boldly Audacious New Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Judith River Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Campanian) of Montana, USA". PLoS ONE. 11 (5): e0154218. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0154218. PMC 4871577. PMID 27191389.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
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