Udanoceratops
Udanoceratops (meaning "Udan-Sayr horn face") is a genus of large leptoceratopsid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period of Mongolia, in what is now the Djadokhta Formation.
| Udanoceratops | |
|---|---|
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| Reconstruction of the holotype skull | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Family: | †Leptoceratopsidae |
| Genus: | †Udanoceratops Kurzanov, 1992 |
| Species: | †U. tschizhovi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Udanoceratops tschizhovi Kurzanov, 1992 | |
Discovery
Udanoceratops was first named by Sergei Kurzanov in 1992 and the type species is Udanoceratops tschizhovi. The holotype was collected in the Udan-Sayr locality from the Djadokhta Formation in Ömnögovi Province, dating to the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period. The generic name is derived from the name of the locality in which the holotype was found (Udan-Sayr) and Greek ceras/κέρας meaning "horn" and -ops/ωψ meaning "face". Udanoceratops is known only from the holotype specimen, a large, almost complete skull which was moderately well preserved.[1] It is the largest leptoceratopsid known so far.[2] In 2007, Udanoceratops aff. tschizhovi was described based on a single specimen from the Campanian-stage Barun Goyot Formation, in Dornogovi Province.
Description
Udanoceratops was a large ceratopsian, estimated at to have reached nearly 4 m (13 ft) long with a weight of 700 kg (1,500 lb).[3] The skull had a short frill and no horns over the eyes or nose. Its skull was about 60 cm (600 mm) long. The lower jaw was distinctively robust.[1]
Classification
Udanoceratops belonged to the Ceratopsia (the name is derived Greek meaning 'horned face'), a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks which thrived in North America and Asia during the Cretaceous Period.[1] It is placed within the Leptoceratopsidae, as the only Asian representative at the time, along with the North American Leptoceratops, Montanoceratops and Prenoceratops.[2]
Paleobiology
Udanoceratops, like all ceratopsians, was a herbivore. The short, deep jaws would have given the animal a powerful bite. The toothless beak would have served to grasp and crop stems or leaves, and as in other leptoceratopsids, the teeth would have met with an action that combined shearing and crushing. The feeding adaptations seen in leptoceratopsids suggest a diet of relatively tough food items, however little is known about the plants that grew in the Gobi Desert during the Cretaceous.[2]
See also
References
- Kurzanov, S.M. (1992). "A giant protoceratopsid from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia (in Russian)". Paleontological Journal: 81−93.
- Dodson, P. (1996). The Horned Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. ISBN 0-691-05900-4.
- Paul, G. S. (2016). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (2nd ed.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 278. ISBN 9780691167664.
External links
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