| Nasutoceratops | |
|---|---|
 Restoration of Nasutoceratops | |
| Information | |
| Range | late Cretaceous period (late Campanian, about 76.0-75.5 Ma) in what is now southern Utah, USA. |
| Scientific Classification | |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | †Dinosauria |
| Order | †Ornithischia |
| Family | †Ceratopsidae |
| Genus | †Nasutoceratops |
| Species | †Nasutoceratops titusi |
| Conservation Status | |
 Extinct | |
Nasutoceratops titusi, is a newly discovered species of ceratopsian dinosaur. It is a basal centrosaurine which lived during the late Cretaceous period (late Campanian, about 76.0-75.5 Ma) in what is now southern Utah, USA. Nasutoceratops was a large, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivore with a short-snout and unique rounded horns above its eyes that have been likened to those of modern cattle. Extending almost to the tip of its snout, these horns are the longest of all the members of the centrosaurine subfamily. The presence of pneumatic elements in the nasal bones of Nasutoceratops are a unique trait and are unknown in any other ceratopsid. Nasutoceratops and Diabloceratops are the only two centrosaurine dinosaurs from the American southwest.
Discovery and naming[]
Nasutoceratops is known from the holotype UMNH VP 16800, a partially associated nearly complete skull, a coronoid process, a syncervical, three partial anterior dorsal vertebrae, a shoulder girdle, an associated left forelimb, parts of the right forelimb and skin impressions. Two specimens were referred: UMNH VP 19466, a disarticulated adult skull consisting of an incomplete premaxilla, maxilla and nasal, and UMNH VP 19469, an isolated squamosal of a subadult. The holotype was discovered and collected in 2006 during the Kaiparowits Basin Project, initiated by the University of Utah in 2000. It was recovered from channel sandstone from the middle unit of the upper Kaiparowits Formation within the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, in sediment that dates to the late Campanian stage of the Cretaceous period, approximately 75 million years ago.
It was first named and described in a thesis by its discoverer Eric Karl Lund in 2010 as Nasutuceratops titusi, remaining at first an invalid nomen ex dissertatione. Scott D. Sampson, Lund, Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke and Katherine E. Clayton validly named it in 2013, emending the generic name to Nasutoceratops. The type species is Nasutoceratops titusi. The generic name comes from nasutus in Latin meaning "large-nosed", and ceratops, "horned-face" in Greek. The specific name honors Alan L. Titus for recovering fossils of Nasutoceratops from the GSENM.
Description[]
Classification[]
Nasutoceratops was assigned to the Centrosaurinae in 2013, in a relatively basal position. A phylogenetic analysis performed by Sampson et al. (2013) found Nasutoceratops to be the sister taxon of Avaceratops. According to this study, the existence of Nasutoceratops would support the hypothesis of faunal separation between the north and south of Laramidia. Its clade would differ from the northern centrosaurines in the retention of long brow horns and a short nose horn, combined with developing, convergent with the Chasmosaurinae members like Triceratops, Torosaurus and Chasmosaurus itself.
Paleoecology[]
Paleobiology[]
Nasutoceratops lived in the United States during the Late Cretaceous Period (late Campanian, about 76.0-75.5 Ma).It coexisted with many other species, including Parasaurolophus, Ornithomimus, Teratophoneus, Deinosuchus and Kosmoceratops.Like other ceratopsians, Nasutoceratops likely lived and traveled in herds.They would likely bellow loudly and swing their horns and frills to intimidate predators, though this is spectulation.If attacked, a Nasutoceratops would definitely stab the predator (or other Nasutoceratops) with its horns.
Gallery[]
