Gryphoceratops
From Greek 'gryphos' meaning 'griffin' (a mythological creature) and 'keratops' meaning 'horned face' (from 'keras' meaning 'horn' and 'ops' meaning 'face'), meaning 'griffin horned face'.
Late Cretaceous stages
Gryphoceratops is an extinct genus of leptoceratopsid ceratopsian dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, southern Canada.
Diagnosis
- Deepest dentary at midpoint relative to tooth row length among all leptoceratopsids
- Sigmoidally curved posterior margin of the predentary symphysial contact that terminates as a butt suture almost perpendicular to the ventral dentary margin at the midpoint of the tooth row
- Dentary ramus proportionally much shorter and deeper than all other leptoceratopsids
Species
Gryphoceratops morrisoni Ryan et al., 2012
Type species
Named for Ian Morrison, who prepared the holotype specimen.
- Holotype
- ROM 56635 , Royal Ontario Museum
- Material
- Partial right dentary, 70 mm preserved length (estimated 90 mm total), edentulous, missing anterior/posterior margins of dentary ramus and distal/posterior margins of coronoid process
- Horizon
- Deadhorse Coulee Member, Milk River Formation, Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 85.7–83.6 million years ago
- Locality
- Black Coulee, Alberta, Canada Ryan and colleagues (2012) hold the detailed locality on record at the Royal Ontario Museum rather than publishing it.
References
- Ryan, M. J.; Evans, D. C.; Currie, P. J.; Brown, C. M.; Brinkman, D. (2012). New leptoceratopsids from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. Cretaceous Research 35: 69-80. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2011.11.018 ryan2012b