Leptoceratops
| Leptoceratops Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
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|---|---|
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| Leptoceratops gracilis forelimb | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Neornithischia |
| Clade: | †Ceratopsia |
| Family: | †Leptoceratopsidae |
| Genus: | †Leptoceratops Brown, 1914 |
| Species: | †L. gracilis
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| Binomial name | |
| †Leptoceratops gracilis Brown, 1914
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Leptoceratops (meaning 'lean-horned face' and derived from Greek 'lepto-/λεπτο-' meaning 'small', 'insignificant', 'slender', 'meagre' or 'lean', 'cerat-/κερατ-' meaning 'horn' and '-ops/ωψ' meaning face),[1] is a genus of primitive ceratopsian dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous Period (late Maastrichtian age, 66.8-65.5 Ma ago[2]) of what is now Western North America, at the same time as their giant relatives of the genus Triceratops. Their skulls have been found in Alberta, Canada and in Wyoming. They could probably stand and run on their hind legs. Analysis of forelimb function indicates that even though they couldn't pronate their hands, they could also walk on four legs.[3] Leptoceratops was around 2 metres (6.6 ft) long and could have weighed anywhere between 68 to 200 kilograms (150 to 441 lb).
Discovery and Species
The first small ceratopsian named, Leptoceratops was discovered in 1910 (and described four years later), by Barnum Brown in the Red Deer Valley in Alberta, Canada. The first specimen had a part of its skull missing, however there have been later well-preserved finds by C. M. Sternberg in 1947, including one complete fossil. There has been later material found in 1978 in Bighorn Basin in northern Wyoming.
The type species is Leptoceratops gracilis. In 1942, material collected in Montana was named Leptoceratops cerorhynchos but this was later renamed Montanoceratops.
Classification
Leptoceratops belonged to the Ceratopsia (the name is Ancient Greek for 'horned face'), a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks that thrived in North America and Asia during the Cretaceous Period. Within this group, it has been placed either in Protoceratopsidae or its own family Leptoceratopsidae.
Diet
Leptoceratops, like all ceratopsians, was a herbivore. During the Cretaceous Period, flowering plants were "geographically limited on the landscape", so it is likely that this dinosaur fed on the predominant plants of the era: ferns, cycads and conifers. It would have used its sharp ceratopsian beak to bite off the leaves or needles.
References
- ^ Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott (1980). A Greek-English Lexicon (Abridged Edition). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-910207-4.
- ^ Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Winter 2011 Appendix.
- ^ Senter, P. (2007), Analysis of forelimb function in basal ceratopsians. Journal of Zoology 273: 305–314. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2007.00329.x
- Dodson, P. (1996). The Horned Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Pinceton, New Jersey, pp. xiv-346
External links
- Leptoceratops in The Dinosaur Encyclopaedia at Dino Russ's Lair
- Ceratopsia at Thescelosaurus!
