Platyceratops

Taxobox
name = "Platyceratops"
status = Fossil


image_width = 200px
image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Ornithischia
infraordo = Ceratopsia
familia =
subfamilia =
genus = "Platyceratops"
genus_authority =
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "Platyceratops tatarinovi"

"Platyceratops" is a dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, during the Campanian Age, about 75-72 million years ago. Its fossils have been found in Mongolia. Its skull is larger than "Bagaceratops"; it has been referred to Bagaceratopidae or the Neoceratopsia. The name "platyceratops" is derived from Greek, and means "flat horned face".

The type specimen is "Platyceratops tatarinovi", described by Aliafanov in 2003.

Classification

"Platyceratops" belonged to the Ceratopsia (the name is Greek for "horned face"), a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks which thrived in North America and Asia during the Cretaceous Period, which ended roughly 65 million years ago. All ceratopsians became extinct at the end of this era.

It may be only a variant of "Bagaceratops."cite journal |last=Makovicky |first=Peter J. |coauthors=and Norell, Mark A. |year=2006 |title="Yamaceratops dorngobiensis", a new primitive ceratopsian (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Cretaceous of Mongolia |journal=American Museum Novitates |volume=3530 |pages=1–42 |url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/5808/1/N3530.pdf |format=pdf |doi=10.1206/0003-0082(2006)3530 [1:YDANPC] 2.0.CO;2 |doilabel=10.1206/0003-0082(2006)3530[1:YDANPC]2.0.CO;2]

Diet

"Platyceratops", like all ceratopsians, was a herbivore. During the Cretaceous, flowering plants were "geographically limited on the landscape", and 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

* http://www.users.qwest.net/~jstweet1/ceratopia.htm
* http://dml.cmnh.org/2004Sep/msg00359.html

Links

* [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/nature-online/dino-directory/detail.dsml?Genus=Platyceratops "Platyceratops" in the Dino Directory]