Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur that first appeared during the late Maastrichtian stage of the late Cretaceous period, about 68 million years ago. Two species, T. horridus and T. prorsus, are considered valid today, from the seventeen species that have ever been named. Triceratops has been featured in film, postal stamps, and many other types of media.
About Triceratops in brief
Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur that first appeared during the late Maastrichtian stage of the late Cretaceous period, about 68 million years ago. It is one of the last-known non-avian dinosaur genera, and became extinct in the Cretsaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years old. The functions of the frills and three distinctive facial horns on its head have long inspired debate. Traditionally, these have been viewed as defensive weapons against predators. More recent interpretations find it probable that these features were primarily used in species identification, courtship and dominance display, much like the antlers and horns of modern ungulates. Two species, T. horridus and T. prorsus, are considered valid today, from the seventeen species that have ever been named. Triceratops has been featured in film, postal stamps, and many other types of media. As the archetypal cer atopsid, Tricer atops isOne of the most popular dinosaurs. It was also one of. the largest, up to 9 meters long and 12 metric tons in weight. It shared the landscape with and was probably preyed upon by Tyrannosaurus, though it is less certain that the two did battle in the fanciful manner often depicted in museum displays and popular images. The first named specimen is a pair of brow horns attached to a skull roof, found by George Lyman Cannon near Denver, Colorado in the spring of 1887.
This specimen was sent to American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh, who believed that the bones belonged to a particularly large and unusual bison, which he named Bison alticornis. It took a third and much more complete skull to change his mind. The specimen, collected in 1888 by John Bell Hatcher from the Lance Formation of Wyoming, was initially described as another species of Ceratops. When further preparation uncovered the third, Marsh changed his mind and gave the piece the generic name TricerAtops, which literally means \”three-horned face\”, accepting his earlier choice of Bison. The only specimen of this species to be identified is a post-crancrosaur specimen, found in Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada, in the provinces of Montana and South Dakota. This is the holotype of the species T. Horridus and YPM 1820. In 2010, research published in 2010 concluded that the contemporaneous Torosaurus, a ceratosid long regarded as a separate genus, represents Triceronops in its mature form. This view was immediately disputed with examination of more fossil evidence needed to settle the debate. It was originally identified as a specimen of T.horridus, also known as Agathosaurus, also recovered in the Lance Formations of Saskatchewan and Canada, but later identified as Dr. Edward C. C. Agathris by Drinker.
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This page is based on the article Triceratops published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 02, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
