Torosaurus

Skeletal reconstruction of Torosaurus

• North America

• Torosaurus latus Marsh, 1891

Torosaurus is a genus of bird Beck dinosaurs from the group of Ceratopsidae within the ceratopsians. He lived during the Late Cretaceous in North America. After 2010, studies carried out it could be in Torosaurus to the adult form of Triceratops, Torosaurus then would only be a junior synonym of that genus.

Features

With an estimated length of 7.6 meters and a maximum weight of over 6 tons Torosaurus was one of the largest Ceratopsidae, but slightly smaller than its relative Triceratops. His skull reached including the neck plate has a length of about 2 meters, making it one of the longest skulls of all land-dwelling animals. However, the muzzle was pointed and parrot beak similar to the cheek region wide and expansive.

The nasal horn was small, the two supraorbital horns but very long. The neck shield was like all Ceratopsidae from the parietal and squamosal, he was provided with very long and large, paired openings.

From the rest of the Body of Torosaurus is not known, he probably resembled that of the other Ceratopsidae. Consequently, it was a stocky dinosaur with powerful limbs, which was moving along on all fours. Like all Ceratopsidae he ate plants, for which he ( in rows arranged teeth, which were replaced by the following tooth with wear) was well equipped with his tooth batteries.

Sites and dating

Fossil remains of Torosaurus have been found in Canada ( Saskatchewan ) and several places in the United States (Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, New Mexico and Texas). The finds are (late Maastrichtian ) dated to the Late Cretaceous to an age 69-66 million years. Torosaurus was so like his contemporary Triceratops one of the last dinosaurs that lived before the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period.

Names and types

The in 1891 awarded by Othniel Charles Marsh name derives from the Greek words toreo ( " pierced" = " riddled " ) and sauros ( " lizard" ) from and alludes to the anatomy of the neck shield to. This is not solid as in the Sterrholophus few months earlier described by him (now a synonym of Triceratops ), but with a pair of large openings provided ( " " the posterior crest, "which" is perforated by a pair of large openings Public. " Marsh Explains: " The open perforations in the parietal, Which have suggested the name Torosaurus, Readily separate this genus from all the gigantic species hitherto known in the Ceratopsidae. " "). This has an etymological derivation of the name from the Spanish word " toro " for " bull" no foundation.

Type species and only one species is recognized today Torosaurus latus. The species T. gladius and T. utahensis described later are considered to be synonyms of T. latus.

System

Torosaurus is classified within the Ceratopsidae in the Chasmosaurinae, which were characterized by large supraorbital horns and a long neck shield. He is counted for Triceratops Torosaurus clade and is related by cladistic studies closest with Diceratus.