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''Vagaceratops'' (meaning "wandering (''vagus'', Latin) horned face", in reference to its close relationship with '' Kosmoceratops'' from Utah) is a genus of herbivorous
''Vagaceratops'' was a medium-sized ceratopsian, reaching in length and weighing . It is known primarily from three fossil skulls. Although the general structure was typical of ceratopsids (i.e. a parrot-like beak, large neck frill, and nasal horn) it has some peculiarities. The skulls are characterized by a reduced supraorbital horn, brow horns that are reduced to low bosses and a larger snout compared to related animals. ''Vagaceratops'' had smaller parietal fenestrae than most ceratopsids and had a strange configuration of epoccipitals (bones surrounding the frill). It possessed ten epoccipitals, eight of which were centrally flattened, curved forward and upward and fused together to form a jagged margin along the back of the frill. The frill was shorter and more square-shaped than other chasmosaurines, being wider than it was long.
''Vagaceratops'' was named by Scott D. Sampson, Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke, Eric M. Roberts, Catherine A. Forster, Joshua A. Smith, and Alan L. Titus in
''Vagaceratops irvinensis''
at the Canadian Museum of Nature Chasmosaurines Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of North America Fossil taxa described in 2010 Taxa named by Scott D. Sampson Taxa named by Catherine Forster Dinosaur Park fauna Paleontology in Utah Campanian genus first appearances Campanian genus extinctions Ornithischian genera {{ceratopsian-stub
ceratopsia
Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassic. ...
n dinosaur. It is a chasmosaurine ceratopsian which lived during the Late Cretaceous period (late Campanian) in what is now Alberta. Its fossils have been recovered from the Upper Dinosaur Park Formation. It is sometimes included in the genus '' Chasmosaurus'' as ''Chasmosaurus irvinensis'' instead of being recognized as its own genus.
Description
''Vagaceratops'' was a medium-sized ceratopsian, reaching in length and weighing . It is known primarily from three fossil skulls. Although the general structure was typical of ceratopsids (i.e. a parrot-like beak, large neck frill, and nasal horn) it has some peculiarities. The skulls are characterized by a reduced supraorbital horn, brow horns that are reduced to low bosses and a larger snout compared to related animals. ''Vagaceratops'' had smaller parietal fenestrae than most ceratopsids and had a strange configuration of epoccipitals (bones surrounding the frill). It possessed ten epoccipitals, eight of which were centrally flattened, curved forward and upward and fused together to form a jagged margin along the back of the frill. The frill was shorter and more square-shaped than other chasmosaurines, being wider than it was long.
Classification
''Vagaceratops'' was named by Scott D. Sampson, Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke, Eric M. Roberts, Catherine A. Forster, Joshua A. Smith, and Alan L. Titus in 2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, and the type species is ''Vagaceratops irvinensis''. This species was originally described as a species of '' Chasmosaurus'' (''C. irvinensis'') in 2001. Its relationships remain debated. ''Vagaceratops'' has variously been allied with ''Kosmoceratops'' or with ''Chasmosaurus''.
The cladogram below is the phylogeny of the Chasmosaurinae by Brown ''et al.'' (2015):
Recently it has been suggested that Chasmosaurinae had a deep evolutionary split between a ''Chasmosaurus'' clade and a ''Pentaceratops'' clade''. Vagaceratops'' was hypothesized to be the last member of the ''Chasmosaurus'' clade from northern Laramidia'','' with the last representative of the clade being its close relative ''Kosmoceratops.''
See also
* Timeline of ceratopsian researchReferences
External links
''Vagaceratops irvinensis''
at the Canadian Museum of Nature Chasmosaurines Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of North America Fossil taxa described in 2010 Taxa named by Scott D. Sampson Taxa named by Catherine Forster Dinosaur Park fauna Paleontology in Utah Campanian genus first appearances Campanian genus extinctions Ornithischian genera {{ceratopsian-stub