Open Paleo

Cerasinops

Chinnery & Horner, 2007 SEH-ruh-SIN-ops

From Greek kerasos meaning 'cherry' and Greek ops meaning 'face'. Full meaning: 'cherry face', likely referring to the shape or color of its facial features.

83.6–72.2 million years ago Campanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Cerasinops was a small ceratopsian dinosaur. It lived during the Campanian of the late Cretaceous Period. Its fossils have been found in Two Medicine Formation, in Montana. The type species of the genus Cerasinops is C. hodgskissi.

Diagnosis

  1. Prootic extends further caudodorsally on the paroccipital process than in either Protoceratops or Montanoceratops.
  2. Horizontal jugal crest oriented at ninety degrees from the main dorsoventral jugal crest, unique among basal neoceratopsians.
  3. Extremely robust surangular with a thick buttress of bone at the contact with the coronoid process of the dentary.
  4. Pronounced medial bend of the distal ulna, more extreme than in other North American basal neoceratopsians.
  5. Forelimb to hindlimb ratio of 0.60, lower than in any other basal neoceratopsian.
  6. Forelimb bones have longitudinal vascular canal structure in cortical bone, contrasting with the circumferential pattern in the hindlimb elements of the same individual.

Species

Cerasinops hodgskissi Chinnery & Horner, 2007

Type species

Named for Wilson Hodgskiss, who owned the land where the holotype specimen was found.

Holotype
MOR 300 , Museum of the Rockies
Material
Associated skull and skeleton, about 80% complete; includes braincase elements, partial maxillae, jugals, quadratojugals, frontals, squamosals, parietal, quadrates, both mandibles, most vertebrae, ribs, both scapulae, left coracoid, both humeri, ulnae, radii, fragmentary manus, femora, tibiae, right fibula, astragalus, calcaneum, left pes.
Horizon
lower Two Medicine Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
Red Rocks Site, MOR TM-012, Montana, United States

Notable specimens

  • USNM 13863

    National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Found 1935 by George Pearce complementary

    Referred specimen collected on the south side of the Two Medicine River, preserving parts of the skull and an articulated right leg. Originally assigned to Leptoceratops by Gilmore, later referred to Cerasinops.

    Gilmore (1939)

  • USNM 13864

    National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Found 1935 by George Fryer Sternberg complementary

    Referred specimen from the north side of the Two Medicine River, preserving multiple parts of the skull, vertebrae, and partial fore- and hindlimbs. Originally assigned to Leptoceratops by Gilmore, later referred to Cerasinops.

    Gilmore (1939)

References

  1. Gilmore, C. W. (1939). Ceratopsian dinosaurs from the Two Medicine Formation, Upper Cretaceous of Montana. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 87(3066): 1-18. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.87-3066.1 gilmore1939a
  2. Chinnery, B. J.; Horner, J. R. (2007). A new neoceratopsian dinosaur linking North American and Asian taxa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(3): 625-641. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[625:anndln]2.0.co;2 chinnery2007a
  3. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the appearance features.

    paul2024a