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Triceratops is an extinct genus of triceratopsinin ceratopsian dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous.

Description

The strong bodies and legs of the Triceratops would have been great for long distance movement. In 2020, the Montana Dueling Dinos was reclaimed from private collections and received by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The specimen preserves a Triceratops and a Tyrannosaurus, both exhibiting soft tissue preservation and paleopathologies [2].

History

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A juvenile Triceratops mount in a bipedal posture, which has become a joke in the online paleocommunity. It was displayed for a Japanese exhibition about the Hell Creek Formation in 2021[citation needed].

Triceratops was discovered by George Lyman Cannon in Denver, Colorado. Lyman discovered a pair of inward-pointing brow horns, bringing them to Othniel Charles Marsh who drew the conclusion Triceratops was a genus of Pliocene bison. He named it Bison alticornis, it was later corrected by Charles Arthur Guernsey, to which the material was renamed by Marsh to fit the new designation of ceratopsid dinosaur.

Life-Reconstruction-Triceratops-and-Tyrannosaurus-Rex

Credit: Julius Csotonyi.

Because or Cope and Marsh's rivalry from 1877-1892, many of the fossils discovered were assigned a new taxa are considered to be material wrongfully assigned to a new genus. Because the scientists had been so petty, many specimens were damaged, lost and descriptions were rushed. Many of which fossils, belonged to Triceratops. These fossils were found in varying areas, causing them to hastily classify them as new genera. Many, now defunct, species of Triceratops and genera like Agathaumas and Polyonax are considered dubious.

Synonyms

Species Synonymy

  • "T." albertensis
  • T. alticornis
  • T. brevicornus
  • T. calicornis
  • T. elatus
  • T. eurycephalus 
  • T. flabellatus
  • T. galeus 
  • T. hatcheri
  • T. ingens
  • T. maximus
  • T. mortuarius
  • T. obtusus
  • T. serratus
  • T. sulcatus 
  • T. sylvestris
  • Bison alticornis
  • "T." montanus[3]
  • "T." xerinsularis[4]

Genus Synonymy

Paleobiology

Paleopathology

Triceratops horridus reconstruction

Credit: Connor Ashbridge on the Wikimedia Commons.

Many specimens of Triceratops show lesions, bite marks and various other injuries that suggest many things about Triceratops' lifestyle. Lots of attributed material shows injury caused by other individuals horns, which caused paleontologists to theorize intraspecific battles between individuals, likely for mating purposes. Farke compared Triceratops and Centrosaurus arrangements, stating the following; both types of ceratopsids would have fought in different styles, accumulating injuries in the same locations on their bodies. To test this, Farke searched for skulls from both animals showing injuries, being fractures or periosteal reactions. Compared to Centrosaurus, Triceratops had ten times as many lesions on the squamosal bone, 14% of injuries in Triceratops, only 3% Centrosaurus. He notes, there is no reason to believe individuals targeted certain "hotspots", believing that most of these injuries were inflicted others' horns. he states larger horns would have caused more violent and intense rituals and display. He concludes saying that Centrosaurus likely flanked rather than head-on, having more postcranial injuries [5].

Mapping

Illustration of the Montana Dueling Dinosaurs.

Many Triceratops fossils show signs of lesions, bony growths caused by infection and bite marks from other animals, such as Tyrannosaurus, which would have been a likely predator. The Montana Dueling Dinosaurs specimen preserves a juvenile Tyrannosaurus (Nanotyrannus?) and a Triceratops corpse laying next to one-another. The two are thought to have fought and died in the the same location. Both preserve paleopathologies, the theropod showing multiple bone breakages and a deformity, with the Triceratops showing bite marks. However, both corpses could have washed together, not killed via battle as popularly assumed [6].

Ontogeny

Triceratopsskull

Triceratops adult and juvenile skulls on display. The large skull is Ruben's Trike.

In 2011, Jack Horner performed a study where he cut open Dinosaur skulls. He was searching for immature bones within the skulls of the animals. Some of the animals that were dissected were Nedoceratops, Ojoceratops, Tatankaceratops, Triceratops and Torosaurus.

From the study, it was concluded that the animals were all growth stages. The growth of Triceratops goes in order, as the following from youngest to oldest: Ojoceratops, Triceratops, Nedoceratops, Tatankaceratops, and Torosaurus. Because Ojoceratops, Tatankaceratops, Nedoceratops and Torosaurus were all discovered after Triceratops, they are now invalid genera and considered synonyms of Triceratops or nomen dubium.

TrikeBABBES

Triceratops growth stages from Saurian.

However, it is still debated whether Torosaurus is a dubious genus. Some conclude it was likely a close relative, and a rare ceratopsian that lived in the Hell Creek Formation; a distinct taxon. While others conclude that Torosaurus was a full grown adult. The topic is in need of study, and Torosaurus is still taxonomically valid. As of now most of these genera are considered dubious, but the topic is in need of further investigation. The genera Agathaumas and Polyonax are now considered dubious because of similarities with Triceratops material, and the genus Sterrholophus has been confirmed to consist of material attributed to Triceratops.

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Comparison of Diceratops and "Triceratops" albertensis.
Credit: Fadeno on DeviantArt.

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The material of "T." albertensis scaled to an estimated length of 9.2 meters. Credit: Tyler Greenfield.

Some believe Nedoceratops (including dubious genera Diceratus and Diceratops) to be an ontogenetic growth stage of Triceratops. With the discovery of large skull, named "T." albertensis with large upturned brows found in the Scollard Formation and given the ID NMC 8862. The material represents a Late Cretaceous-aged ceratopsian, preserving most of the left half of the skull, starting near the horncores, 2 dorsal vertebrae and a couple ribs. Additionally, NMC 9542 an occipital condyle and fragmented crest and NMC 8861 brow horns, a dentary and many frill fragments are referred. Some believe these remains to belong the the previously-thought-dubious genus Nedoceratops, because the material is thought to have been from a mature individual that would have towered over the average human stature. Due to this, the species "T." albertensis is specified to be in-need of change, and these remains have had little publication since initial description. The holotype is CMM 8862, and is 2.75 meters long [7][8].

Unnamed Specimens

An unnamed species of Triceratops from the Hell Creek Formation. It is based off of specimens MOR 3027 (Yoshi's Trike) and UCMP 128561, not yet being given a name [9]. However, several museum specimens are currently labelled as T. sp., such as a specimen previously from the Black Hills Institute, now at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, nicknamed "Lane". This specimen of T. sp. is one of the most complete Triceratops skeletons known, found near the famous Edmontosaurus mummy. Presence of skin samples on the carcass were noted, before excavated in large blocks. At least four skin types have been identified [10].

Paleoecology

Anthony-hutchings-triceratops-being-horridus-smaller

Credit: Anthony Hutchings.

Triceratops lived in North America, all fossils dating to before the K-PG mass extinction. Fossils are excavated in the Hell Creek, Laramie, Denver, Scollard, Lance and Evanston Formations, all in layers containing Maastrichtian-aged deposits. The Hell Creek Formation is among the most well-known of Triceratops fossils.

DuelingDinos

Triceratops herd defending from juvenile Tyrannosaurus, a likely scenario explaining the Montana Dueling Dinosaurs.
Credit: Anthony Hutchings.

The Triceratops would have traveled as a large herd. Whenever predators would have attacked the herd, it has been theorized that the healthy adults would form a ring, and the young and weak members would go into the center of the ring. This formation would form a trough wall of horns, making it virtually impossible for the predators to pick off any member of the herd. Triceratops was preyed upon by a diverse array of predators. Juveniles would have been suitable prey for the large dromaeosaur Dakotaraptor, and full grown individuals a challenging meal for massive predators like Tyrannosaurus. Both species are found from Hell Creek, T. horridus, T. prorsus and a transitional species from the middle layers. Small theropods like Acheroraptor and caenagnathids, with large ornithomimids, hadrosaurs like Edmontosaurus, a vast array of fishes and crocodilians. Parts of Hell Creek overlooked the Western Interior Seaway and parts of the Fox Hills Formation.

Distribution

Remains of Triceratops have been uncovered all across the Laramidian coast. Remains have been found in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado.[11] Rubey et al. (1961) cite a Triceratops cf. flabellatus (=T. horridus) mandible, among others, from the Evanston Formation. However, flabellatus is synonymous with T. horridus, which is typically diagnosable through the nasal horn. Additionally, the mandible is generally nondiagnostic for ceratopsids. As well, the mandible is cited to have existed through personal ties, and as such no institutional data can identify the specimen. Therefore, the Evanston record is dubious and cannot be classified about Ceratopsidae[12].

Classification

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Credit: Matt Dempsey.

Triceratops is a member of Ceratopsidae, a group of ceratopsians that includes the chasmosaurs and the centrosaurs. In chasmosaurinae, Triceratops fits into triceratopsini with closely-related genera such as Regaliceratops, Torosaurus and Titanoceratops. Below is a simplified cladogram that displays where Triceratops is currently classified in Chasmosaurinae, forming a clade with Torosaurus.

Chasmosaurinae

Mercuriceratops




Judiceratops





Chasmosaurus



Mojoceratops





Agujaceratops





Pentaceratops aquilonius



Williams Fork chasmosaur




Pentaceratops sternbergii



Utahceratops






Kosmoceratops





Anchiceratops



Almond Formation Ceratopsian






Bravoceratops



Coahuilaceratops





Arrhinoceratops


Triceratopsini

Titanoceratops




Torosaurus



Triceratops













Triceratops (Diceratops), or just Diceratops was suggested to have been a subgenus of Triceratops before made synonymous with Nedoceratops, and then Triceratops.

Notable Specimens

  • John3

    Supposedly, Big John in the field, unprepared.

    MOR 2569 "Afternoon Delight": A juvenile Triceratops mounted at the Museum of the Rockies[13].
  • "Cliff": A Triceratops at the Museum of Science in Boston[13].
  • "Dio": A Triceratops at the Royal Ontario Museum and the University of Toronto[13]. It was discovered by scientific illustrator and paleoartist Danielle Dufault. It is named after the vocalist of Black Sabbath[14].
  • AMNH 5116 "Doyle": A Triceratops or Torosaurus at the American Museum of Natural History[13].
  • "Fafnir": A Triceratops at the Science Museum of Minnesota[13].
  • MOR 1120 "Getaway Trike": Housed at the Museum of the Rockies[13].
  • MOR 154452 "Harley's Baby": A juvenile Triceratops at the Museum of the Rockies[13].
  • USMN 4842 "Hatcher": A Triceratops at the National Museum of Natural History[13].
  • BMRP 2006.4 "Homer": A skeleton housed at the Burpee Museum of Natural History[13]. A specimen named after The Simpsons character, discovered during a 2005 expedition led by the Burpee Museum to Hell Creek. The site produced BMR 2005 CH 1 through BMR 2005 CH 16, these are (in order): a possible cylindrical and phalange, a possible rib head, vertebrae and neural arch, rib shaft, rib shaft, rib shaft, femur, rib, "flat platy bone", "flat platy bone", "flat platy bone", rib shaft, "flat platy bone", an unidentified bone, rib shaft and a possible arm bone. Other bones include 3 left nasals, which indicates the presence of 2 other individuals at the site The exposed bones were wrapped in plaster. The site was confirmed to be 64 square meters and had 139 bones. It is now displayed alongside Jane[15].
    • "Bart" and "Lisa": Two other specimens from the Homer Triceratops site, as indicated the presence of 3 left nasals. They were humourlessly nicknamed "Bart" and "Lisa" by Steve Brusatte's The Rise and the Fall of the Dinosaurs, to match "Homer"[15].
  • MOR 2923 "Joe's Trike": A Triceratops at the Museum of the Rockies[13].
  • MOR 2951 "Juvie Trike III" or "Golfball Trike": A Triceratops at the Museum of the Rockies[13].
  • "Kelsey": A Triceratops mounted at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis[13].
  • HMNS 2006.1743.00 or HMNS VP1506[16] "Lane": Housed at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, is labelled as T. sp. Previously at the Black Hills Institute, the specimen was found near the world-renowned Edmontosaurus mummy, and preserved one of the most complete specimens known to date with at least four differing types of skin samples[13].
  • MOR 004 "MORT": A Triceratops at the Museum of the Rockies[13].
  • DSTtD-0035 "Nana": A Triceratops housed at an unknown location[13].
  • NSM-PV 20379 "Raymond": Named after a local rancher, Raymond is one of the best known specimens and the only articulate Triceratops known. It lays on its right side, with the left left eroded during the Pleistocene, and was weathered away, and reburied until recent times. Only the skull anf tail bones were repositioned during excavation[17]. it is mounted at the National Museum of Nature and Science[13].
  • MOR 1110 "SG-5": A Triceratops at the Museum of the Rockies[13].
  • MOR 1199 "Sierra" or "Sierra College Trike": A Triceratops at the Museum of the Rockies[13], discovered and collected by Sierra College[citation needed].
  • MOR 2999 "Situ But Sad": A Triceratops at the Museum of the Rockies[13].
  • MOR 3027 "Yoshi's Trike": An intermediate specimen between T. prorsus and T. horridus, representing an unnamed species from the Hell Creek Middle Formation. It's horns are 115 centimeters long, the longest of any recorded specimen, and is mounted at the Museum of the Rockies[13].
  • UCMP 128561: Yet to be given a name, affiliated with Yoshi's Trike and, in turn, T. sp.[13]. It was originally named Ugrosaurus after being discovered by David Fastovsky in the summer of 1983. It is a partial premaxilla, rostral, partial nasal with a low nasal boss, and fragmented dentary, a frill and postcrania[18].
  • MOR 2980 "TriSarahTops": A specimen discovered by Sarah Keenan, whose name is a pun of the discoverer's. The specimen is poorly preserved, found ~100 meters east of MOR locality HC-571[19].
  • "Dirk": A 9-meter-long 5900-12,000-kilogram-heavy T. horridus known from a double-segmented site in Wyoming. This specimen bears upturned horns and is likely male. This site also bears other remains including ceratopsian trackways. This specimen was prepared by a team including Olof Moleman. Dirk is ~55% complete in bone volume and ~20% in bone number. 61/300 partial bones were recovered[20][21].
  • "Big John": A specimen put up for auction in 2021, found to be the largest Triceratops. Big John; it sold to an anonymous private collector on October 21 for ~€6.65 ($7.74; £5.6) million, a European record[22]. This specimen is described as "[a] miracle of nature and work of art", and is riddled with many paleopathologies, including a laceration on its collar gained from a smaller individual from either territorial defense or courtship. Found first in 2014, ~60% of the skeletal system is found. It was sold by the Drouot auction house, with 10 interested buyers[23]. A partial skull, fragmentary ribs, partial vertebrae, thighbones and partial forelimbs are known[24].
  • UCMP 113697 "Ruben's Trike": A large T. horridus skull, likely representing a transitional form of T. horridus and T. prorsus[25]. It was found in locality V75046 of Montana, discovered on a July 1970 expedition by John Ruben. It is one of the largest Triceratops skulls.
  • UCMP 136306 "McGuire Creek Trike": A medium-sized skull found in the Hell Creek badlands near a creek drainage. Wayne Thomas (1984) on a UCMP field research trip first found the fragmented skull. Mark Goodwin and crew identified it as a juvenile, and a near-complete one. Goodwin and Jack Horner later researched it, filling in the ontogenetic series of Triceratops[26].
  • "Henry" (formerly "Headless Henry"): A ~40% complete skeleton ~30% larger than any Triceratops. It is housed in the Missouri Institute of Natural Science, and was excavated by Matt Forir and volunteers. It was first nicknamed Headless Henry since it lacked a skull, and after Forir's son. Henry is likely male, with 50% were first found. It weighed 40,000 pounds, stood 30 feet long and 11 feet high. The excavated was retracted due to little progress, and the head was only recovered when a lab was flooded, washing the foam cranial replica all over town. When the fragments were retrieved, bought and restored, it was found the head fit Henry's body perfectly. However, it was restored too small, and needed to be made 10% larger to fit. Henry died near to a stream, where a logjam was found washed against him. His bones were spread apart after decomposition and scavenging. Near, they found "Nanotyrannus", mammal and bird teeth[27][28].
  • "Horridus": A T. horridus (hence the nickname) specimen housed at the Melbourne Museum. It is a full skeleton with few missing elements, being one of the most complete Triceratops known. In 2014, part of a pelvis was found protruding from sandstone in Montana. It was prepared in Victoria, Vancouver and packed into 7 large crates to fly to Melbourne. In Melbourne, every bone was scanned, measured, labeled and mounted for display[29]. It was the center for an exhibition at the museum titled "Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs"[30].
  • "Alice": A skull discovered by biology student on June 4 during a two week expedition with Michael Kjelland from North Dakota. The expedition was previously uneventful, and the base of the frill was recognized at the surface. Excavation was difficult and meticulous, with special glue having to be applied periodically, taking about a week to fully uncover. A local cattle rancher and family helped make a crate and load the specimen onto a truck for transport. The specimen was named after the woman who owned the land. The discoverers hope that Alice can travel worldwide to be used as an educational exhibit[31]. The right eye is missing a horn[32].
    • "Skull X": A skull, vertebrae and ribs belonging to three individuals, discovered on the same expedition.
  • "Lucky Trike": A skull discovered by Lindsay Zanno[33].
  • "Count Trikeula": A Triceratops frill discovered "a few years ago" (as of 2021), and is held at the Badlands Dinosaur Museum, where it underwent restoration. A 3D model was created and printed to mirror and restore the skull, where it was then painted to look authentic[34].

Gallery

Gallery Prehistoric wiki provides an extensive gallery on Triceratops. Click expand to view all images.

Reconstructions

Mounts

Diagrams

Fossils

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triceratops

Note: references appear as superscript numbers such as: [1].
  1. https://twitter.com/EoFauna/status/1321035495674122240
  2. https://naturalsciences.org/calendar/news/north-carolina-museum-of-natural-sciences-to-receive-the-dueling-dinosaurs/
  3. https://dinoanimals.com/dinosaurdatabase/triceratops-montanus/
  4. https://archive.org/details/g.s.paul2016theprincetonfieldguidetodinosaurs/page/n258/mode/1up
  5. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2009/01/27/old-wounds-show-that-triceratops-used-its-horns-for-combat/
  6. https://duelingdinosaurs.org/
  7. https://twitter.com/fadeno_paleoart/status/1358925771717410816
  8. http://www.paleofile.com/Dinosaurs/Ornithopods/Diceratops.asp
  9. https://twitter.com/EoFauna/status/1321035495674122240/photo/1
  10. http://www.bhigr.com/store/product.php?productid=889
  11. Longrich, Nicholas & Field, Daniel. (2012). Torosaurus Is Not Triceratops: Ontogeny in Chasmosaurine Ceratopsids as a Case Study in Dinosaur Taxonomy. PloS one. 7. e32623. 10.1371/journal.pone.0032623.
  12. https://www.skyemcdavid.com/blog/2022/evanston-triceratops
  13. 13.00 13.01 13.02 13.03 13.04 13.05 13.06 13.07 13.08 13.09 13.10 13.11 13.12 13.13 13.14 13.15 13.16 13.17 13.18 13.19 13.20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dinosaur_specimens_with_nicknames#Ceratopsians
  14. https://twitter.com/Paleoartologist/status/1153126912857976832
  15. 15.0 15.1 https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-rise-and-fall-of/9780062490438-item.html
  16. https://twitter.com/TyrannoDinoHiro/status/1437201945005936640
  17. http://www.bhigr.com/store/product.php?productid=76
  18. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/abs/ugrosaurus-olsoni-a-new-ceratopsian-reptilia-ornithischia-from-the-hell-creek-formation-of-eastern-montana/1E0689493179D693B6384281E252BD14
  19. ONTOGENETIC AND STRATIGRAPHIC CRANIAL VARIATION IN THE CERATOPSID DINOSAUR TRICERATOPS FROM THE HELL CREEK FORMATION, MONTANA, Scanella (2015)
  20. https://www.naturalis.nl/system/files/inline/Manual%20Dirk.pdf
  21. https://twitter.com/LordTrilobite/status/1434940354264977408
  22. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58998367
  23. https://www.firstpost.com/photos/world-gallery/big-john-worlds-largest-triceratops-fossil-to-go-under-the-hammer-at-paris-auction-house-9942621-8.html
  24. https://twitter.com/EmuLarge/status/1451433570296373249/photo/1
  25. https://t.co/sOKpLU4ZZI?amp=1
  26. https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/2013/02/cataloging-the-archives-three-fine-trikes/
  27. https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2019/04/12/henry-triceratops-finally-gets-fossi-lhead-missouri-institute-of-natural-science/3404680002/
  28. https://www.monatsci.org/the-museum
  29. https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/whats-on/triceratops-fate-of-the-dinosaurs/home-of-horridus/
  30. https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/whats-on/triceratops-fate-of-the-dinosaurs/
  31. https://abcnews.go.com/US/biology-student-helps-discover-65-million-year-triceratops/story?id=64562977
  32. https://twitter.com/harrison_duran/status/1493636839533527043
  33. https://twitter.com/DavidEvans_ROM/status/1501233193487380487
  34. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdOU6XMcH14&ab_channel=CityofDickinson-CityHall

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