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Gremlin Slobodorum
''Gremlin'' (named after the mythical creature of the same name) is a genus of leptoceratopsid ceratopsian dinosaurs from the Campanian stage of the Cretaceous period, 77 million years ago. It contains one species, ''Gremlin slobodorum'', named in 2023 by Michael J. Ryan and colleagues from a found in the Oldman Formation of Alberta. It can be distinguished from other leptoceratopsids by a ridge on the frontal that runs transversely from the midline of the skull outwards to the top end of the . Discovery and naming The ''Gremlin'' holotype specimen, TMP 2011.053.0027, was discovered in sediments of the Oldman Formation in southern Alberta, Canada. The specimen consists of an isolated right which has lost portions of its anterolateral margin, possibly due to erosion. In a 2022 conference abstract authored by L. Micucci and colleagues, they tentatively referred the specimen to ''Cerasinops'' since its holotype was found in rock layers of a similar age. In 2023, Ryan and c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Campanian
The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian spans the time from 83.6 (± 0.2) to 72.1 (± 0.2) million years ago. It is preceded by the Santonian and it is followed by the Maastrichtian. The Campanian was an age when a worldwide sea level rise covered many coastal areas. The morphology of some of these areas has been preserved: it is an unconformity beneath a cover of marine sedimentary rocks. Etymology The Campanian was introduced in scientific literature by Henri Coquand in 1857. It is named after the French village of Champagne in the department of Charente-Maritime. The original type locality was a series of outcrop near the village of Aubeterre-sur-Dronne in the same region. Definition The base of the Campanian Stage is defined as a place in the stratigraphic col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceratopsian
Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassic. The earliest known ceratopsian, '' Yinlong downsi'', lived between 161.2 and 155.7 million years ago.Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2011) ''Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages,'Winter 2010 Appendix./ref> The last ceratopsian species, '' Triceratops prorsus'', became extinct during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, . ''Triceratops'' is by far the best-known ceratopsian to the general public. It is traditional for ceratopsian genus names to end in "''-ceratops''", although this is not always the case. One of the first named genera was ''Ceratops'' itself, which lent its name to the group, although it is considered a ''nomen dubium'' today as its fossil remains have no distinguishing char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaoyangosaurus
''Chaoyangsaurus'' (" Chaoyang lizard") is a marginocephalian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of China. It has been dated to between 150.8 and 145.5 million years ago. ''Chaoyangsaurus'' belonged to the Ceratopsia ( Greek for "horned faces"). ''Chaoyangsaurus'', like all ceratopsians, was primarily a herbivore. Discovery and naming In 1976, the remains of ''Chaoyangsaurus'' were found by Cheng Zhengwu at Ershijiazi, in the Chaoyang area of Liaoning Province in northeastern China. The fossil was added to a travelling exhibition. Unlike many other dinosaurs, ''Chaoyangsaurus'' had been discussed in a number of sources before its official publication. As a result of this, several different spellings of its name have come and gone as invalid '' nomina nuda'' ("naked names", names with no formal description behind them). The first name to see print was ''Chaoyoungosaurus'', which appeared in the guidebook to a Japanese museum exhibit, and was the result of an incorrect transliterat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xuanhuaceratops
''Xuanhuaceratops'' (meaning "Xuanhua horned face") is a genus of dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period. The genus was in 2006 dated to the Tithonian, 150.8-145.5 million years ago. A member of the family Chaoyangsauridae, it was one of the earliest ceratopsians.Zhao, X., Cheng, Z., Xu., X., and Makovicky, P. J. 2006. "A new ceratopsian from the Upper Jurassic Houcheng Formation of Hebei, China." ''Acta Geologica Sinica'', 80 (4): 467–47Full text./ref> The fossils were found in the Houcheng Formation of Hebei Province, northeastern China. Discovery ''Xuanhuaceratops niei'' is known only from four fragmentary skeletons recovered from the Houcheng Formation of Hebei Province, China. The first of these was a single, fragmentary skeleton discovered in the 1970s by Nie Rongzhen, near Yanjiagou. The species name ''Xuanhuasaurus niei'' was published by Zhao Xijinin a 1985 study, but without a description (or even a specified holotype) making it an invalid ''nomen nudum''.Zhao Xijin, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hualianceratops
''Hualianceratops'' is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur that lived about 160 million years ago in the Late Jurassic epoch in what is now western China. The single species, ''H. wucaiwanensis'' was described in 2015. Its size has been compared to that of a spaniel. Discovery In 2002, an expedition by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and the George Washington University in the region of Wucaiwan in Xinjiang discovered the skeleton of a small dinosaur. The fossil was prepared by Xiang Lishi, Yu Tao and Ding Xiaoqing. In 2015, the type species ''Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis'' was named and described by Han Fenglu, Catherine A. Forster, James M. Clark, and Xu Xing. The generic name combines the Chinese ''hua'', "ornamental", and ''lian'', "face", a reference to the ornamentation of the jaw bones, with ''ceratops'', Latinised Greek for "hornface", a usual suffix in the names of ceratopsians. The specific name refers to the provenance a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yinlong
''Yinlong'' (, meaning "hidden dragon") is a genus of basal ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period of central Asia. It was a small, primarily bipedal herbivore. Discovery and species A coalition of American and Chinese paleontologists, including Xu Xing, Catherine Forster, Jim Clark, and Mo Jinyou, described and named ''Yinlong'' in 2006. The generic name is derived from the Mandarin Chinese words 隱 (''yǐn'': "hidden") and 龍 (''lóng'': "dragon"), a reference to the movie ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'', large portions of which were filmed in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang, near the locality where this animal's fossil remains were discovered. ''Long'' is the word most often used in the Chinese media when referring to dinosaurs. The species was named after the American vertebrate paleontologist William Randall Downs III, a frequent participant in paleontological expeditions to China who died the year before ''Yinlong'' was discovered.Xu, X., Fors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psittacosaurus
''Psittacosaurus'' ( ; "parrot lizard") is a genus of extinct ceratopsian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of what is now Asia, existing between 126 and 101 million years ago. It is notable for being the most species-rich non-avian dinosaur genus. Up to 12 species are known, from across China, Mongolia, Russia, and Thailand. The species of ''Psittacosaurus'' were obligate bipeds at adulthood, with a high skull and a robust beak. One individual was found preserved with long filaments on the tail, similar to those of ''Tianyulong''. ''Psittacosaurus'' probably had complex behaviours, based on the proportions and relative size of the brain. It may have been active for short periods of time during the day and night, and had well-developed senses of smell and vision. ''Psittacosaurus'' was one of the earliest ceratopsians, but closer to ''Triceratops'' than '' Yinlong''. Once in its own family, Psittacosauridae, with other genera like ''Hongshanosaurus'', it is now considered to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to descendants, nor does it show how much they have changed, so many differing evolutionary trees can be consistent with the same cladogram. A cladogram uses lines that branch off in different directions ending at a clade, a group of organisms with a last common ancestor. There are many shapes of cladograms but they all have lines that branch off from other lines. The lines can be traced back to where they branch off. These branching off points represent a hypothetical ancestor (not an actual entity) which can be inferred to exhibit the traits shared among the terminal taxa above it. This hypothetical ancestor might then provide clues about the order of evolution of various features, adaptation, and other evolutionary narratives about an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sister Taxa
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and taxon B are sister groups to each other. Taxa A and B, together with any other extant or extinct descendants of their most recent common ancestor (MRCA), form a monophyletic group, the clade AB. Clade AB and taxon C are also sister groups. Taxa A, B, and C, together with all other descendants of their MRCA form the clade ABC. The whole clade ABC is itself a subtree of a larger tree which offers yet more sister group relationships, both among the leaves and among larger, more deeply rooted clades. The tree structure shown connects through its root to the rest of the universal tree of life. In cladistic standards, taxa A, B, and C may represent specimens, species, genera, or any other taxonomic units. If A and B are at the same taxonomi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unescoceratops
''Unescoceratops'' is a genus of leptoceratopsid ceratopsian dinosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, southern Canada. It contains a single species, ''Unescoceratops koppelhusae''. Discovery ''Unescoceratops'' is known only from the holotype specimen TMP 95.12.6, a partial left dentary. The fossil was collected in 1995 in the Black Coulee locality (formerly Deadhorse Coulee), near the Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, from the Dinosaur Park Formation, dating to the late Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, about 76.5-75 million years ago. The specimen was regarded as too incomplete to identify, and was shelved for several years. It was believed to be a ''Leptoceratops'' specimen at the time. A cladistic analysis done by Michael Ryan (of The Cleveland Museum of Natural History) and David Evans (of the Royal Ontario Museum) found it to be among the most advanced leptoceratopsid genera. Description ''Unescoceratops'' is thought to have been betwee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gryphoceratops
''Gryphoceratops'' is an extinct genus of leptoceratopsid ceratopsian dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, southern Canada. Discovery ''Gryphoceratops'' is known only from the holotype ROM 56635, a partial right dentary. The holotype was collected in the northwest corner of Dinosaur Provincial Park, from bonebed 55 of the Milk River Formation, dating to the late Santonian stage of the middle Late Cretaceous period, about 83.5 million years ago. Thus, ''Gryphoceratops'' represents the oldest known leptoceratopsid. However, a cladistic analysis found it to be one of the most advanced leptoceratopsids. Additionally, the holotype probably represents the smallest adult ceratopsian known from North America. The cladogram below represents the cladistic relationship of ''Gryphoceratops'' compared to other leptoceratopsids. Etymology ''Gryphoceratops'' was first named by Michael J. Ryan, David C. Evans, Philip J. Currie, Caleb M. Brown and Don Brinkman in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leptoceratopsid
Leptoceratopsidae is an extinct family of neoceratopsian dinosaurs from Asia, North America and Europe. Leptoceratopsids resembled, and were closely related to, other neoceratopsians, such as the families Protoceratopsidae and Ceratopsidae, but they were more primitive and generally smaller. Phylogeny Leptoceratopsidae was originally named by Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás in 1923 as a subfamily Leptoceratopsinae, and its type species is ''Leptoceratops gracilis''. Mackovicky, in 2001, defined it as a stem-based taxon and a family consisting of ''Leptoceratops gracilis'' and all species closer to ''Leptoceratops'' than to ''Triceratops horridus''.Makovicky, P.J. 2001. A ''Montanoceratops cerorhynchus'' (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) braincase from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, In: Tanke, D.H. & Carpenter, K. (Eds.). ''Mesozoic Vertebrate Life''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Pp. 243-262. The cladogram below follows the topologies from a 2015 analysis by Yiming ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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