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{{Short description|Extinct genus of dinosaurs}}
{{italic title}}{{speciesbox
| name = ''Ceratops''
| fossil_range = [[Late Cretaceous]], {{fossilrange|77.5}}
| image = Ceratops.png
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = Holotype left horncore
| grandparent_authority = Marsh, 1888 [[Othnielsensu]] Charles[[Othenio MarshAbel|MarshAbel]], 18881919
| genus = Ceratops
| display_parents = 2
| parent_authority = Marsh, 1888
| species = montanus
| authority = Marsh, 1888
| synonyms = * ''Proceratops montanus'' <br><small>(Marsh, 1888) [[R. S. Lull|Lull]], 1906</small>
| synonyms =
* '''''ProceratopsTriceratops montanus''''' <br><small>(Marsh, 1888) [[R.Ostrom S.& Lull|Lull]]Wellnhofer, 19061986</small>
}}
 
'''''Ceratops''''' (meaning "horn face") is a [[nomen dubium|dubious]] [[genus]] of herbivorous [[ceratopsia]]n [[dinosaur]] which lived during the [[Late Cretaceous]]. Its fossils have been found in the [[Judith River Formation]] in [[Montana]]. Although poorly known, ''Ceratops'' is important in the history of dinosaurs, since it is the [[type genus]] for which both the [[Ceratopsia]] and the [[Ceratopsidae]] have been named. The material is too poor to be confidently referred to better specimens, and ''Ceratops'' is thus considered a ''[[nomen dubium]]''.
 
==History==
[[File:Ceratops.jpg|upright|thumb|left|Illustration of the type specimen by Marsh]]
The first remains referred to ''Ceratops'' — an [[occipital condyle#In dinosaurs|occipital condyle]] and a pair of [[Horn (anatomy)|horn cores]] — were found by [[John Bell Hatcher]] (1861–1904) in the late summer of 1888 near the [[Cow Creek (Montana)|Cow Creek]] in [[Blaine County, Montana|Blaine County]] in the uppermost [[Judith River Formation]] of Montana. Hatcher was at the time employed by Professor [[Othniel Charles Marsh]] who the same year named the find as the [[type species]] ''Ceratops montanus''. The generic name was derived from Greek κέρας, ''keras'', "horn", and ὤψ, ''ops'', "face". The [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] referred to Montana. Marsh originally believed the animal to be similar to ''[[Stegosaurus]]'', but with two horns on the back of its head, a body length of twenty-five to thirty feet, horizontal plates on its back and bipedal. According to Marsh it would have "represented a very strange appearance".<ref name="Marsh1888">{{cite journal | last1 = Marsh | first1 = O.C. | year = 1888 | title = A new family of horned Dinosauria, from the Cretaceous | url = https://ajsonline.org/article/62691.pdf| journal = The American Journal of Science, |series=Series 3 | volume = 36 | issue = 216| pages = 477–478 | doi = 10.2475/ajs.s3-36.216.477 | bibcode = 1888AmJS...36..477M | s2cid = 130243398 }}</ref> In his illustration of the horn pair, purportedly showing them from behind, Marsh had switched their position and rotated their outside to the rear to make them point inwards.<ref name="Lull1907">J.B. Hatcher, O.C. Marsh, and R.S. Lull'', 1907 The Ceratopsia''. Monographs of the United States Geological Survey 49 pp 198</ref>
 
The holotype, '''USNM 2411''', was found in a layer dating from the [[Campanian]]. It consists, apart from the occipital condyle, of two supraorbital horn cores of about twenty-two centimetres length.<ref name="Lull1907"/> The right horn is attached to a part of the prefrontal. Marsh later referred two [[squamosal]]s to the species, specimens USNM 4802 and USNM 2415. These however are more likely [[Centrosaurinae|centrosaurine]]; they have also been referred to ''[[Avaceratops]]''.<ref>Penkalski, P.G., 1993, "The morphology of ''Avaceratops lammersi'', a primitive ceratopsid from the Campanian of Montana", ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' '''13'''(3, supplement): 52A</ref>
 
In 1906 [[Richard Swann Lull]] noted that the name ''Ceratops'' had been preoccupied by a bird, ''Ceratops'' Rafinesque 1815, but also that this had been an undescribed ''[[nomen nudum]]'', causing the name to have been still available in 1888. He nevertheless provisionally proposed a replacement name: ''Proceratops''.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lull | first1 = R.S. | year = 1906 | title = A new name for the dinosaurian genus ''Ceratops'' | url =https://zenodo.org/record/1450144 | journal = The American Journal of Science, |series=Series 4 | volume = 21 | issue = 122| page = 144 | doi = 10.2475/ajs.s4-21.122.144 | bibcode = 1906AmJS...21..144L }}</ref> This is thus a [[junior synonym]] of ''Ceratops''.
 
Already in the early twentieth century new finds made it increasingly difficult to distinguish the limited remains of ''Ceratops'' from several other related forms. Today, ''Ceratops'' is considered a ''nomen dubium''.<ref>P. Dodson and P. J. Currie, 1990, "Neoceratopsia". In: D.B. Weishampel, H. Osmolska, and P. Dodson (eds.), ''The Dinosauria''. First Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley pp 593-618</ref> However, from time to time claims are made about discoveries that, also taking into regard their provenance, might have a provable connection with the ''Ceratops'' holotype.
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In 1995, [[David Trexler]] and F.G. Sweeney noted that complete material from a bonebed that had been found in [[Montana]] could enable ''Ceratops'' to be reexamined. The site, known as the Mansfield Bonebed, belongs to the same stratigraphic level as the one that yielded the original ''Ceratops'' remains. It had initially been interpreted as containing ''[[Styracosaurus]]'', but what earlier authors considered the frill spikes of ''Styracosaurus'' turned out to be chasmosaurine orbital horns. Trexler and Sweeney pointed out that these horns closely resembled those of ''Ceratops'', and could allow the genus to be rescued as a valid name.<ref name=trexler>Trexler, D. and Sweeney, F.G. (1995). "Preliminary work on a recently discovered ceratopsian (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) bonebed from the Judith River Formation of Montana suggests the remains are of ''Ceratops montanus'' Marsh." ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'', '''15'''(3, Suppl.): 57A.</ref> The ceratopsids in the bonebed were later referred to the genus ''[[Albertaceratops]]'', and later re-classified in their own genus, ''[[Medusaceratops]]''.<ref name="Ryan2010">Ryan, Michael J.; Russell, Anthony P., and Hartman, Scott. (2010). "A New Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid from the Judith River Formation, Montana", In: Michael J. Ryan, Brenda J. Chinnery-Allgeier, and David A. Eberth (eds), ''New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium'', Indiana University Press, 656 pp. {{ISBN|0-253-35358-0}}.</ref>
 
In 1999, [[Paul Penkalski]] and [[Peter Dodson]] concluded that ''Ceratops'', despite being is a ''[[nomen dubium]]'' because the material is too meager, appeared closely related to ''[[Avaceratops]]'' which even may even be a juvenile ''Ceratops''; there is not enough material to prove it.<ref name=avaceratops>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/02724634.1999.10011182|author1=Penkalski, P |author2=Dodson, P|year=1999|title=The morphology and systematics of ''Avaceratops'', a primitive horned dinosaur from the Judith River Formation (Late Campanian) of Montana, with the description of a second skull.|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=19|issue=4|pages=692&ndash;711|bibcode=1999JVPal..19..692P }}</ref>
 
===Later species===
In 1889 Marsh named a second species of ''Ceratops'': ''Ceratops horridus''.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Marsh | first1 = O.C. | year = 1889 | title = Notice of new American Dinosauria | url = https://zenodo.org/record/2123893| journal = American Journal of Science | volume = 37 | issue = 220| pages = 331–336 | doi = 10.2475/ajs.s3-37.220.331 | bibcode = 1889AmJS...37..331M | s2cid = 131729220 }}</ref> This would almost immediately in a subsequent article be renamed into ''[[Triceratops]] horridus''. ''Ceratops horridus'' is thus the type species of ''Triceratops''. In the same article Marsh renamed ''Bison alticornis'' Marsh 1887, his misidentification of ceratopidceratopsid material for a giant [[Bovidae|bovid]], into ''Ceratops alticornis''.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Marsh | first1 = O.C. | year = 1889 | title = Notice of gigantic horned Dinosauria from the Cretaceous | url = https://zenodo.org/record/2140870| journal = American Journal of Science | volume = 38 | issue = 224| pages = 173–175 | doi = 10.2475/ajs.s3-38.224.173 | bibcode = 1889AmJS...38..173M | s2cid = 131187857 }}</ref> In 1890 Marsh renamed ''Hadrosaurus paucidens'' Marsh 1889 into ''Ceratops paucidens'';<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Marsh | first1 = O.C. | year = 1890 | title = Description of new dinosaurian reptiles | url = https://zenodo.org/record/1964666| journal = The American Journal of Science, |series=Series 3 | volume = 39 | issue = 229| pages = 81–86 | doi = 10.2475/ajs.s3-39.229.81 | bibcode = 1890AmJS...39...81M | s2cid = 131403178 }}</ref> but the original assessment of Hatcher that this represented [[Hadrosauridae|hadrosaurid]] material is probably correct.<ref name="Lull1907"/>
 
In 1905 Hatcher renamed three ''Monoclonius'' species into ''Ceratops'' species: ''Monoclonius recurvicornis'' Cope 1889 became ''Ceratops recurvicornis''; ''Monoclonius belli'' Lambe 1902 was made ''Ceratops belli'' and ''Monoclonius canadensis'' Lambe 1902 was renamed ''Ceratops canadensis''.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Stanton | first1 = T.W. | last2 = Hatcher | first2 = J.B. | year = 1905 | title = Geology and paleontology of the Judith River Beds | url = | journal = United States GeologicalJournal Survey Bulletinof Geology| volume = 257 | issue = 6| pages = 1–174 | bibcode = 1907JG.....15..601S | doi = 10.1086/621438 | doi-access = }}</ref> ''C. bellicanadensis'' later was made the separate genus ''[[Eoceratops]]'', and ''C. belli'' was made the separate genus ''[[Chasmosaurus]]''; in 1925 [[William King Gregory]] concluded that ''Ceratops'' and ''Chasmosaurus'' were identical,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Gregory | first1 = W.K. | last2 = Mook | first2 = C.C. | year = 1925 | title = On ''Protoceratops'', a primitive ceratopsian dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia | url = | journal = American Museum Novitates | volumeissue = 156 | issue = | pages = 1–9 }}</ref> but this was rejected by most researchers.
 
In 2005, remarkably well preserved cranial and postcranial elements of a [[Judith River Formation|Judithian]] ceratopsian were discovered in [[Fergus County, Montana]]. Nicknamed "Judith", preliminary examination suggested a close affinity with ''C. montanus''. The locality has been determined to be on or in close proximity to the stratigraphic layer of ''C. montanus'', and not too many miles away.<ref name=judiththedinosaur>"[http://www.judiththedinosaur.com Judith the Dinosaur] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119043702/http://www.judiththedinosaur.com/ |date=2021-01-19 }}". Accessed 17-AUG-2013.</ref> In 2016, the new animal was named ''[[Spiclypeus]]'', and the authors stated that it may be identical to ''Ceratops'', which they considered a ''nomen dubium'', or a growth stage of ''Albertaceratops''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mallon|first1=Jordan C.|last2=Ott|first2=Christopher J.|last3=Larson|first3=Peter L.|last4=Iuliano|first4=Edward M.|last5=Evans|first5=David C.|last6=Evans|first6=Alistair R.|title=''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|journal=PLOS ONE|date=2016|volume=11|issue=5|pages=e0154218|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0154218|pmid=27191389|pmc=4871577|bibcode=2016PLoSO..1154218M|doi-access=free}}</ref>
 
===Species list===
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==Classification==
''Ceratops'' was placed by Marsh in the [[Ceratopsidae]] in 1888.<ref name="Marsh1888"/> It thus belonged to the Ceratopsia, a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with [[parrot]]-like beaks which thrived in [[North America]] and [[Asia]] during the Late [[Cretaceous Period]], which ended roughly 66 million years ago. In 1919 athe group [[Ceratopsinae]] was named by [[Othenio Abel|Othenio Lothar Franz Anton Louis Abel]],<ref>Abel, O.L.F.A.L., 1919, ''Die Stämme der Wirbeltiere'', Berlin und Leipzig : W. de Gruyter, 914 pp</ref> but this concept is problematic: [[Paul Sereno]] has defined it as equivalent to the [[Chasmosaurinae]] but other researchers limit it to ''Ceratops'' itself as its direct relationships are uncertain.
 
==Diet==
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==References==
{{reflistReflist}}
 
==External links==
* https://web.archive.org/web/20090531083004/http://www.dinosaurvalley.com/Visiting_Drumheller/Kids_Zone/Groups_of_Dinosaurs/index.php
 
{{Marginocephalia|T.}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q134704}}
 
[[Category:Ceratopsids]]
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[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1888]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Othniel Charles Marsh]]
[[Category:PaleontologyFossils inof Montana]]
[[Category:Campanian genus first appearancesgenera]]
[[Category:Ornithischian genera]]
[[Category:Cretaceous Montana]]
[[Category:Ceratopsians of North America]]
[[Category:Late Cretaceous ceratopsians]]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratops"