Styracosaurus

Live reconstruction of Styracosaurus

• North America

• S. albertensis Lambe, 1913
• S. ovatus Gilmore, 1930

Styracosaurus is a genus of bird Beck dinosaurs from the group of Ceratopsidae within the ceratopsians. This through his nose horn and the horns characterized at the edge of the neck shield dinosaur lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now North America.

Features

Styracosaurus reached a length of about 5.5 meters and an estimated weight of 3 tons, so he was a medium-sized Ceratopsidae. His physique resembled that of the other members of this group, there were stocky animals with large, massive skulls and powerful limbs, the hind legs were much longer than the front legs.

Styracosaurus is expected to Centrosaurinae, which are characterized by a usually long nose horn, short or missing supraorbital horns and a short neck shield. The skull was up to 2 meters in length is very large ( including the neck plate ). The muzzle was pointed and parrot like, it was formed, as with all ceratopsian from the Rostralknochen ( in front of the upper jaw ) and the Praedentale ( in front of the lower jaw). The cheek region was spreading, causing the skull from above was approximately triangular. The dentition was like all Ceratopsidae from dental batteries that are in rows spaced teeth that are replaced by the following tooth when worn. The occlusal surfaces of the teeth were approximately normal, which suggests that the teeth were mainly used for cutting activities.

The nasal bone was wearing a up to 50 centimeters long nose horn, the longest known of all Centrosaurinae. The typical for Ceratopsidae neck shield was formed from the parietal and squamosal and had two paired openings. At the rear edge of the shield were four or six long spines, next were on the plate border nor other small bony protuberances or spines.

The first cervical vertebrae were fused to Syncervical. There were 46 caudal vertebrae present, the highest known number of all Ceratopside. The limbs were built to last, the feet short and strong. The front feet carried five and the hind feet four hoof-like toes.

Paleobiology

The remains of Styracosaurus were partly found in bone beds ( " bone camps" ), that is, the fossils of many animals of different ages were together. This mass deposits could be an indication of a possible life in associations; but it is also possible that in periods of drought many otherwise solitary animals are gathered at water holes and there were killed due to the drying up of the source.

Horns and neck shields of Ceratopsidae are often associated with the defense against predators in context. However, the rearwardly extending plate edge horns should not have been very well suited for defense purposes. Also the neck shield was too thin to act as protection against neck bites. After today's perspective, the headdress was primarily the identification of the individual species as well as the interaction with other dogs - either by exhibition, threatening gestures or in fighting. It may be decreased by territorial boundaries or mating privileges.

The tooth batteries of Styracosaurus with the vertical occlusal surfaces were aligned for overlapping but not be ground movement. The pointed snout is evidence of ability to selectively food intake, the construction of the lower jaw indicates a high bite force. It is probable that this dinosaur fed on hard, fibrous plants.

Discovery and designation

The fossil remains of Styracosaurus are from the Judith River Group in western North America. The genus was first described in 1913 by Lawrence Lambe on the basis of a find in Alberta ( Canada). The name derives from the Greek words στύραξ / styrax ( = "thorn " ) and σαῦρος / sauros ( = " lizard" ) from. Type species is S. albertensis. 1930 has been described in S. ovatus a second type that originated in the U.S. state of Montana. S. ovatus is known only by a part of the neck plate, in which the horns were bent at the plate edge to each other and not away from each other in S. albertensis. Overall, the findings are too meager, so S. ovatus is considered nomen dubium. The finds are (late Campanian ) dated to the Late Cretaceous to an age of about 76 to 72 million years.

System

Styracosaurus is classified within the Ceratopsidae in the subfamily of Centrosaurinae. Together with Centrosaurus (and possibly the little-known genus Monoclonius ) establish the tribes of Centrosaurini.