11 Apr 2012
School
Department
Course
Professor
Chapter 6 - Lecture 10
Marginocephalia (edge-head)--> reflects an important connection between two major
different looking, groups of dinosaurs: Pachycephalosauria and Ceratopsia
Ceratopsia--> defined by the presence of a rostral bone forming the upper beak
a.Psittacosauridae
b.Basal neoceratopsian (protoceratopsids)
c. Ceratopsidae
•What does Psittacosaurus mean?
•parrot reptile, Parrot-like beak with rostral bone (only ceratopsians have this
beak)
•When was Psittacosauru Discovered?
•in the Gobi in 1920’s
•How many fossil specimens?
•120 fossil specimens
•Did Psittacosaurus have frills?
•have not developed frill structures in the back
•Were they Bipedal?
•yes.
•Based on a fossil find proceratops was in a combat position with a small cerapoda is
losing why is this interesting ?
•cerapoda was stealing eggs underneath (nest)
•What is an egg stealing dinosaur called?
•oviraptor philoceraptaps
•Why are nesting sites such as the one in Mongolia interesting?
•you can reconstruct what a ceratopsian hatchling would look like.
•What do triceratops have in the front and back?
•three nice horns in the front and frills in the back
•Ceratopsia is a well studied group where are they mostly found?
•North America, Great herds in Alberta, Montana and Wyoming
•Who discovered Ceratopsians?
•Cope and Marsh
•What did Cope and Marsh discover?
•Parts of pelvis, some vertebrae and teeth
•Horn cores misidentified as belonging to bison horns
•1880 skull of Triceratops (three,horn, face) in Wyoming
•How many complete and partial skulls of triceratops have been found?
•50
Ceratopsian discovery in China
•In 1923 where were ceratopsian dinosaurs discovered ?
•Gobi Desert Ex.Proceratops
•Andrews was in american researcher travelled into the Gobi dessert what did he
find?
•Egg fossils
•what was the Oviraptor doing?
•protecting its eggs
Ceratopsia: Far migration
•What did Sternberg discovered in Alberta?
• Pachyrhinosaurus
•Where did Pachyrhinosaurus roamed
•Alberta and Montana
•Further research has found that Pachyrhinosaurus migrated to ?
•north slope of Alaska
•What does it suggest when Pachyrhinosaurus is found in Alaska?
•Warmer climate in the Cretaceous
•What do dinosaurs have to cope with when they are traveling in high
latitude(North)?
•dark winter (seasonal migration could have taken place)
•70 Mill years ago up to 5 degrees of the late Cretaceous North Pole what does it
suggest?
•traveled very far North
Characteristic features of Ceratopsia
•what was the Rostral bone?
•unique bone at tip of snout leading to a parrot-like beak
•what is the Skull like?
• narrow at the beak and flaring out in a frill structure
•Deep in the cheek region
•What were the Frills composed principally of:
•paired parietal bones (on top of skull)
•Strongly vaulted palate beneath the beak
•What is it separating?
• nasal from oral cavity
•What do frills also do?
•muscle attachment
Evolution of Ceratopsia
•How did Ceratopsian evolve ?
•Went from small (1-2 m) bipeds to large (5-10 m) massive quadrupeds
•The Origin of Psittacosaurus a small biped is ?
•Late Jurassic of Asia
•We develop eventually a large quadrupeds called? and in which period?
•Basal Neoceratopsian common in Asia through Early Cretaceous
•Ceratopsian first appear and are only found in what period ?
•Late Cretaceous in North America
•How did the Ceratopsians migrate from Asia to North America?
•Baring Strait when it was a land mass
•In the evolution of ceratopsia the Psittacosaurus was?
• Bipedal
•In the Psittacosaurus evolution Neoceratopsian's were ?
• quadrupeds
•Secondary evolutionary to step back to quadrupedality
•Why did the Microceratops have difficulties?
•carried a large head and was bipedal small forearms
•What are the Neoceratopsian characters ?
•Shape and number of horns