Ceratopsidae
Ceratopsids | |
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Montage of four ceratopsids. Clockwise from top left: Titanoceratops, Styracosaurus, Utahceratops and Triceratops | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | †Ornithischia |
Clade: | †Ceratopsia |
Superfamily: | † Ceratopsoidea
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Clade: | † Ceratopsomorpha
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Family: | †Ceratopsidae Marsh, 1888 |
Subgroups | |
Synonyms | |
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Ceratopsidae (sometimes spelled Ceratopidae) is a family of
These horns and frills show remarkable variation and are the principal means by which the various species have been recognized. Their purpose is not entirely clear. Defense against
Paleobiology
Behavior
Fossil deposits dominated by large numbers of ceratopsids from individual species suggest that these animals were at least somewhat social.[2] However, the exact nature of ceratopsid social behavior has historically been controversial.[3] In 1997, Lehman argued that the aggregations of many individuals preserved in bonebeds originated as local "infestations" and compared them to similar modern occurrences in crocodiles and tortoises.[3] Other authors, such as Scott D. Sampson, interpret these deposits as the remains of large "socially complex" herds.[3]
Modern animals with mating signals as prominent as the horns and frills of ceratopsians tend to form these kinds of large, intricate associations.
Other researchers who support the idea of ceratopsid herding have speculated that these associations were seasonal.
Diet
Ceratopsids were adapted to processing high-
Physiology
Ceratopsians probably had the "low mass-specific metabolic rat[e]" typical of large bodied animals.[9]
Sexual dimorphism
According to Scott D. Sampson, if ceratopsids were to have
Evolution
Scott D. Sampson has compared the evolution of ceratopsids to that of some mammal groups: both were rapid from a geological perspective and precipitated the simultaneous evolution of large body size, derived feeding structures, and "varied hornlike organs."[3] The earliest ceratopsids, including members of both Centrosaurinae and Chasmosaurinae are known from the early Campanian stage, though the fossil record for early ceratopsids is poor.[13] All but one of the named species of ceratopsid is known from Western North America, which formed the island continent of Laramidia during the Late Cretaceous, separated from the island continent of Appalachia to the east by the Western Interior Seaway. The latitudinal range of ceratopsians across Laramidia extends from Alaska to Mexico. The only named ceratopsid outside of Laramidia is Sinoceratops, a centrosaurine from the late Campanian of China.[1] An indeterminate tooth of a ceratopsid is known from Mississippi dating to the late Maastrichtian, a few million years prior to the close of the Cretaceous, indicating that ceratopsids dispersed into eastern North America corresponding to the closure of the Western Interior Seaway at the end of the Cretaceous.[14]
Paleoecology
The chief predators of ceratopsids were
There is evidence for an aggressive interaction between a
Classification
The
See also
References
- Dodson, P. (1996). The Horned Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, pp. xiv-346
- Dodson, P., & Currie, P. J. (1990). "Neoceratopsia." 593-618 in Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., & Osmólska, H. (eds.), 1990: The Dinosauria. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford, 1990 xvi-733.
- Sampson, S. D., 2001, Speculations on the socioecology of Ceratopsid dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Neoceratopsia): In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, pp. 263–276.
References
- ^ S2CID 234351502.
- ^ "Abstract", Sampson (2001); page 263.
- ^ a b c d "Introduction", Sampson (2001); page 264.
- ^ "Ceratopsid Socioecology", Sampson (2001); pages 267-268.
- ^ a b "Retarded Growth of Mating Signals", Sampson (2001); page 270.
- ^ a b "Sociological Correlates in Extant Vertebrates", Sampson (2001); page 265.
- ^ a b c d "Resource Exploitation and Habitat", Sampson (2001); page 269.
- ^ a b "Predation Pressure", Sampson (2001); page 272.
- ^ a b c "Resource Exploitation and Habitat", Sampson (2001); page 268.
- PMID 23557203.
- ^ a b "Sexual Dimorphism", Sampson (2001); page 269.
- ^ a b "Sexual Dimorphism", Sampson (2001); page 270.
- PMID 29362697.
- PMID 28560100.
- ISBN 978-0-253-35087-9.
- ^ Dodson, Peter, The Horned Dinosaurs, Princeton Press. p.19
- .
- ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
External links
- Media related to Ceratopsidae at Wikimedia Commons
- Data related to Ceratopsidae at Wikispecies