▷ Anchiceratops – Resumenea

What is an Anchiceratops?

Anchiceratops was a medium-sized quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaur with a massive build, whose size could reach up to 6 meters in length. There are more than a dozen skulls of this species.

Its holotype specimen was found in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, in a stratum about 70 million years old. This is a partial skull of an adult specimen, lacking the front part of the snout.

A second skull was also found about 3 kilometers from the place where it was first found. It had large openings in the neck shield, which considerably reduced the weight of the shield.

The two long frontal horns above its eyes and the short nasal horn were directed forward.

The fossils of this dinosaur show signs of a very marked variation in its physiology. Jordan C. Mallon published a study in 2012 that tried to explain this through statistical analysis.

Their conclusion was that Anchiceratops belonged to one of the species whose differences were based mainly on individual characteristics. The first fossils of Anchiceratops They were found in Canada in 1912.

Later, in 1929, they found another specimen that was called Anchiceratops longirostrisbut it is thought to have been of the same class as Anchiceratos ornatus. Behind the skull it had a long, rectangular nuchal shield, the edge of which had triangular bony prominences.

The neck and pelvis of Anchiceratops were quite long, and the tail was considerably short. His legs were not very long either, but they were very muscular.

Their remains were found in deposits interspersed with coal seams. From this it is inferred that the animal lived in a humid environment, either in open forests or swamps.

Finding of the Anchiceratops

In 1912, the first fossil specimen of Anchiceratops was found in Alberta, Canada.. It was on an excavation under the direction of Barnum Brown.

This was the holotype specimen and consisted of the posterior half of a skull and a frill of considerable length. At that same time, two partial skulls were also found, one of which is considered the paratype. These are currently under the care of the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Added to this is the complete skull that Charles M. Sternberg discovered in 1924 in Morrin, which is a town in the state of Alberta. He called it Anchiceratops longirostris and in 1929 it was considered a minor synonymous species of the Anchiceratopso ornatus.

This species has around 10 incomplete skulls. These skulls have different proportions. An example of these are the supraorbital horn nuclei, which led specialists to conclude that their disparity is ontogenetics. That is, it is related to development.

Paleontologist Barnun Brown was the one who described and named Anchiceratops in 1914. At first he thought it was a transition related to Monoclonius and Triceratops.

There was also another specimen found by Sternberg in 1925, which does not have most of its skull. However, it has the most complete skeleton in terms of ceratopsids.

It had a complete spinal column, so much so that it even had every last vertebra in its tail. This specimen is in the possession of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. What visitors can see is a half-mount seen from the right side, which is the best preserved.

Its skull is a replica of the specimen found in Morrin. Other material has also been found in a bone bed in Alberta, which has not been described so far.

Anyway, the home of the largest number of Anchiceratops fossils was the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Alberta, which belongs to the last stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. Its age is estimated between 72 and 71 million years..

The fragments of volantas found in Wyoming in the United States resemble Anchiceratops.

On the other hand, parts of a brown horn and pieces of frills have been found from two older localities, whose characteristic two-dot pattern on the frills is consistent with Anchiceratops.

It is believed that they may be early samples of A. ornamentus or perhaps a second related species. It should not be forgotten that Anchiceratops remains were found in sediments from the Saint Mary River Formation in Scabby Butte, also in Alberta.

Mallon noted in 2012 that numerous fossils of this species were available that had not been noticed before. Some of these were the complete skull of a juvenile specimen and another almost complete one that lacked the snout. There was also a ruffle from a left skull, parts of ruffles, and the trailing edge of a ruffle.

These fossils, if studied, would allow a statistical study to be carried out that could resolve some discrepancies in the scientific community.

Who was Barnun Brown?

This dinosaur was one of the discoveries of paleontologist Barnum Brown, who was born in Carbondale, Kansas in 1873. He died in this city in 1963.

During his career he was responsible for the discovery of large specimens, such as the famous Tyrannsaurus rex. He became interested in paleontology from a young age and began working with a specialist in this field known as Samuel Wendell Williston.

In 1895 he found a practically intact skull of a Triceratops, which today is part of the Museum of Natural History in New York.

Between 1902 and 1910 he found a Cretaceous site where he would find the T. rex. He also discovered traces of the Ankylosaurus.

Added to this is the classification and description of new species of dinosaurs with which he contributed profoundly to science. He fought in World War I, which shaped him somewhat as an explorer.

What does Anchiceratops mean?

Anchiceratops is a name derived from Greek terms anchi what does it mean nearof keras What does it mean horn and of ops what is face. Hence its name is translated as close horned face. His epithet ornament comes from ornamentation, and it was chosen to highlight that it had an ornate border on its steering wheel.

The Chasmosaurinae family

Anchiceratops is part of the Chasmosaurinae family. It is a taxon of dinosaurs that, together with the Centrosaurinae, make up the Ceratopsidae, within the Ceratopsia.

These were quadrupeds whose front legs were considerably shorter than the hind legs. Their limbs were strong and they had a burly build.

They had a large, massive skull, along with a pointed snout.. They also had a rostral bone that was in front of the upper jaw and a predental bone, in front of the lower jaw.

Their dentition consisted of batteries of teeth arranged in rows, which were replaced whenever they became worn.

The Centrosaurinae were mainly differentiated by their frontal horns and their shield on the back of their neck. Its nasal horn became significantly shorter, while the horns above its eyes lengthened significantly.

The shield on its neck was formed from the parietal and squamosal bone, as was the case in all higher ceratopsians. This was mostly long, in a proportion of up to 100% of the actual length of the skull. It also had large openings, which were closed in Triceratops.

The length of its skull, including the nuchal shield, in Pentaceratops and Torosaurus could be more than two meters. It is not surprising, since they had the longest skulls of any land animal, up to what is known today.

They also had bony structures on the edge of the shield, called Epoccipitalia, which were simple protuberances at best, and did not serve the function of spines as in certain representatives of the Centrosaurinae.

Characteristics of Anchiceratops

This dinosaur offered a complete perspective on ceratopsids. The fairly complete fossil records have allowed us to know the following characteristics of this species.

Classification

The Anchiceratops integrates the Ceratopsia, within the Ceratopsidea. It is a representative of the Chasmosaurinae taxon, which is parallel to that of the Centrosaurinae.

Description

There is no doubt that Anchiceratops was part of the Ceratopsidae. ANDIt was a medium-sized representative that could measure up to 6 meters in length.. The skull was large and strong. It had a snout with a beak similar to that of a parrot, a rostral bone, a predental bone and a battery of teeth, which were replaced by the next one due to inevitable deterioration.

A nasal bone was the base of a small horn and above its eyes were two longer, forward-facing ones. Her shield arose from parietal and scaly bones. It was long and had small openings in pairs. Epoccipital ossifications could also be observed.

His torso was definitely robust and sat on very strong limbs. The front ones ended in five fingers and were shorter than the rear ones, which instead had four toes with hooves. He was quadruped. That is, he walked on four legs.

Feeding

Due to its characteristics, Anchiceratops fed on the low vegetation typical of the Cretaceous. This included ferns, conifers and cycads, or flowering plants that had developed in this period. Due to its strong and large beak, it uprooted the plants it ingested.

sexual dimorphism

One hypothesis that scientists have used is that Anchiceratops was a species with clear sexual dimorphism. That is, with characteristics that would distinguish males from females.

This could mean that the Anchiceratops longirostris It was actually a female of this species. The other specimens that have larger skulls and a short, wider snout would be male specimens.

We must not forget that sexual dimorphism is common among the Chasmosauridae. It has been observed in specimens such as Pentaceratops, the Triceratops and the Torosaurus.

Habitat

The remains of Anchiceratops were found in sectors associated with marine sediments. This suggests that it lived in estuaries where there were no other types of ceratopsids, and therefore it is difficult to relate to them. In these places, flowering plants were abundant, although at a lower level than ferns, cycads and conifers, which were the basis of their diet.

When did Anchiceratops become extinct?

Analysis of its fossils places it between 72 and 71 million years ago.. This is in the final phase of the Cretaceous. There is no study that has conjectured the possible reason for its extinction.