▷ Styracosaurus – Resumenea

What is a Styracosaurus?

Styracosaurus was a dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous period in what is now North America. It was characterized by having four short legs, a huge and voluminous body and a short tail.

Added to this is a snout with a parrot’s beak, flat cheeks and teeth, and a diet that consisted of low-growing plants. As with all Ceratopsians, Styracosaurus had a powerful shield on its neck.

It had six long horn accessories located on the edge of the shield, along with other smaller ones on the sides.. This is what distinguished it from other horned dinosaurs such as Chasmosaurus or Triceratops.

Finding of the Styracosaurus

After the analysis of various fossil remains, it is thought that Styracosaurus was related to Centrosaurus, and that both lived in the same ecological niche. Styracosaurus was believed to have evolved from Centrosaurus.

There is only one species of Styracosaurus so far, known as Styracosaurus albertensis. Some time ago it was thought that there were more species, although now they have been identified as the same as this one or have been reassigned to other genera.

The first fossil remains were a skull recovered by Charles Sternberg in Alberta, Canada in North America. It was in 1913 in the Dinosaur Park Formation. Later in 1935, the remaining lower jaws and most of the postcranial skeleton were also recovered from the same location.

Barnum Brown managed to obtain an almost complete articulated skeleton in 1915 in the same place. But when he compared it with previous findings, it was discovered that this specimen had a smaller tail bone and that its cheekbones were different. It also had a more robust jaw and a different steering wheel.

It was established that both specimens were of the same genus. However, this find was sufficiently different from the holotype that it was called Styracosaurus parksi. But later it was considered to be the same Styracosaurus albertensis.

Chalres Gilmore found a variant in 1930 that he called Styracosaurus ovatus. But some time later it was determined that she was the female of the albertensis species.

In 2006 Darren Tanke visited the site where they found S. parksi, and found pieces abandoned by the main researchers in 1915. To this day, evidence is awaited to determine whether albertensis and parksi are the same or not.

What does Styracosaurus albertensis mean?

The only known specimen was Styracosaurus albertensis. Its name originates from Greek styrax What does spearhead mean? saurus which translates as lizard. Hence its meaning is lizard with spear either lizard with spike. The epithet albertensis It is in honor of the place where it was found, which was in Alberta, Canada.

The Ceratopsidae group

The Ceratposidea or horn faces, also called Ceratopidae, were a group of four-legged herbivorous dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous. Its most famous exponents were the Triceratops and the Styracosaurus.

They had a row of molars at the top of their jaws, elaborate horns, and shields on the back of their necks. It is subdivided into the families Centrosaurinae and Charmosaurinae. The latter is better known as Ceratopsinae.

The Chamosaurinae are characterized by having long, triangular horn shields, along with well-developed frontal horns.

The most striking difference between Chasmosaruinae and Centrosaurinae were the horns and the shield on the back of the neck. In the first the horn of the nose was much shorter, while those over the eyes were much longer. The neck shield was almost as long as the skull and had large openings known as fenestrae.

The Centrosaurinae had horns or bony nasal crests and elaborate beaks on the top of the nape shield. They are recognized by their prominent nasal horn, lower frontal horns and short cusps with small conical outgrowths.

Researchers can deduce from many finds that all juvenile Centrosaurinae were very similar. Only upon reaching the adult stage did they change their appearance according to each species.

These young specimens boasted nasal horns consisting of a transversely compressed crest and light, vulnerable nape shields. In those who were a little older, said nasal shield was practically developed.

The Centrosaurinae had short, powerful snouts, with smaller rear shields, than those of the Chasmosaurinae.

Styracosaurus vs Triceratops

If you have to compare two dinosaurs, a similar and worthy duo is that of Styracosaurus and Triceratops. Both are ceratopsians, but the latter is undoubtedly one of the most popular.

Both are herbivores, which does not mean that they would have been completely passive and harmless. Although they peacefully ate their vegetables, they were able to use their virtues to defend their integrity. Let’s get to know its features below.

Styracosaurus

Let’s remember its main characteristics. This individual could weigh around 3 tons, with a height of just over 2 meters. Its length reached up to 5.5 meters.

Its speed was between 24 and 32 km/h. It had a bony frill with points that measured between 15 and 60 centimeters. They also had protruding spikes on their cheeks.

They could attack with their large horn located on their nose and could also trample their smaller attackers.

Triceratops

The size of the Triceratops was around 5 and 9 tons. Its height was about 3 meters and it was 9 meters long. She ran at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour and could gallop ungainly.

Few animals dared to fight it, due to its enormous size. Its bony frill protected its neck powerfully. With his horns he could charge, knock down and kill his enemies.

It is estimated that they were able to confront Tyrannosaurus rex himself. Its horns measuring almost 1 meter on its head and its smaller horn in the center of its head made it a fearsome opponent.

Confrontation factors

If a Styracosaurus had faced off against a Triceratops, it could depend on the following factors.

Size

Looking at the previous data, Triceratops was much larger than Styracosaurus. The first could weigh 9 tons while the second only 3. That is why in this field there is an obvious winner.

Speed and movement

In this area both had similar speeds. Although the Triceratops was larger, it is possible that it had more resistance, and could persist at its speed of 30 km/h. While the Styracosaurus, with a speed that ranges between 24 and 32 km/h, it is possible that it would have difficulty maintaining the pace in the long term.

Defenses

The Styracosaurus was characterized by having some outstanding defenses that consisted of spikes located on its bony frill. Added to this were spikes on their bony cheeks.

The Triceratops also had a very hard steering wheel. It did not have as many spears but its three strong horns helped it confront very powerful predators. All this was also part of a very large body and greater attack power.

Offensive capacity

In addition to a very strong structure, the Triceratops had a very large size with which it could fight against enormous adversaries. He could win just with his enormous weight and strength.

The Styracosaurus possessed spear-like horns that would allow it to defend itself against average attackers. But these were not large enough to do enough damage to the Triceratops. Without a doubt he would not be the winner if they had faced each other to the death.

Characteristics of the Styracosaurus

Research on the fossil remains of this species has helped determine the following characteristics.

Classification

Sturacosaurus was an ornithischian dinosaur, from the group of herbivores with bird-like hips. It is part of the Marginocephalia suborder and the Ceratopsians family. These were large herbivores with horns and frills.

Ceratopsians were one of the last major groups of dinosaurs to evolve and include Psittacosaurus, Leptoceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus, Montanoceratops, Chasmosaurus, Centrosaurus, Triceratos, Centrosaurus, Triceratops, Styracosaurus, and Proteceratops.

When he lived?

Styracosaurus lived at the end of the Cretaceous period between 77 and 70 million years ago. It was one of the last dinosaur species to evolve before the Tertiary Cretaceous extinction 66 million years ago.

Some of its contemporaries were Tyranosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Corythosarus and Dryptosaurus.

Habitat

He lived in large areas full of not very large grass, with ferns and flowering plants. From time to time she would dive into wooded areas to look for fruits scattered on the ground, falling from the trees. When Styracosaurus migrated, it traveled along beaches and river banks, in order to avoid the dense and treacherous jungle.

Behavior

It is thought that it was a grazing animal, as was the case with some ceratopsians. This hypothesis is supported by the discovery of bone beds from large deposits of bones of the same species in an area.

It is known that it was born from eggs and that the young were cared for by their parents. When threatened by predators it may have charged at its enemy like a modern rhinoceros, which was a very effective defense.

Diet

Although it had a fearsome appearance, it was a peaceful herbivore that fed on low foliage such as cycads, palm trees, ferns and other plants of the time.

Some researchers claim it was strong enough to topple angiosperm trees. In this way he was able to achieve soft vegetation, typical of the tree canopy.

It had a hard beak at the front of the mouth with cutting teeth at the back that were arranged in continuous groups of batteries. The older upper teeth were replaced by the lower ones.

These teeth did not work in a crushing motion, but instead cut plant matter into smaller pieces that could be easily digested..

It is not known with certainty what the beak was used for, as paleontologists think it was used to grab and then remove food from branches or to cut off morsels of plant matter.

On their ruffles and horns

Specialists have various hypotheses about the function of the frills and horns in Styracosaurus.

While at first glance they present an effective form of weapon or defense mechanism, this may not have been effective as they only protected his head and neck. They could have been useful only if he attacked his rival in the side, impaling him with the horn of his nose, like a modern rhinoceros.

Another theory proposes that the neck frill provided anchor points for the dinosaurs’ jaw muscles, which provided great bite force in their beak. But this is not…