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A New Specimen of the Controversial Chasmosaurine Torosaurus latus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of Montana.

ABSTRACT: Torosaurus latus is an uncommon and contentious taxon of chasmosaurine ceratopsid known from several upper Maastrichtian units in western North America. We describe a partial parietal of To. latus from the Hell Creek Formation of Montana. Although the specimen's ontogenetic maturity means that it cannot inform the ongoing debate over whether To. latus is the old adult form of the contemporary Triceratops, the specimen is one of the best-preserved To. latus parietals and supplements previous descriptions.

SUBMITTER: McDonald AT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4790893 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A New Specimen of the Controversial Chasmosaurine Torosaurus latus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of Montana.

McDonald Andrew T AT Campbell Carl E CE Thomas Brian B

PloS one 20160314 3

Torosaurus latus is an uncommon and contentious taxon of chasmosaurine ceratopsid known from several upper Maastrichtian units in western North America. We describe a partial parietal of To. latus from the Hell Creek Formation of Montana. Although the specimen's ontogenetic maturity means that it cannot inform the ongoing debate over whether To. latus is the old adult form of the contemporary Triceratops, the specimen is one of the best-preserved To. latus parietals and supplements previous desc ...[more]

PMID: 26974149

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Project description:BackgroundA dinosaur census recorded during the Hell Creek Project (1999-2009) incorporates multiple lines of evidence from geography, taphohistory, stratigraphy, phylogeny and ontogeny to investigate the relative abundance of large dinosaurs preserved in the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of northeastern Montana, USA. Overall, the dinosaur skeletal assemblages in the Hell Creek Formation (excluding lag-influenced records) consist primarily of subadult or small adult size individuals. Small juveniles and large adults are both extremely rare, whereas subadult individuals are relatively common. We propose that mature individuals of at least some dinosaur taxa either lived in a separate geographic locale analogous to younger individuals inhabiting an upland environment where sedimentation rates were relatively less, or these taxa experienced high mortality before reaching terminal size where late stage and often extreme cranial morphology is expressed.Methodology/principal findingsTyrannosaurus skeletons are as abundant as Edmontosaurus, an herbivore, in the upper Hell Creek Formation and nearly twice as common in the lower third of the formation. Smaller, predatory dinosaurs (e.g., Troodon and dromaeosaurids) are primarily represented by teeth found in microvertebrate localities and their skeletons or identifiable lag specimens were conspicuously absent. This relative abundance suggests Tyrannosaurus was not a typical predator and likely benefited from much wider food choice opportunities than exclusively live prey and/or specific taxa. Tyrannosaurus adults may not have competed with Tyrannosaurus juveniles if the potential for selecting carrion increased with size during ontogeny.Conclusions/significanceTriceratops is the most common dinosaur and isolated skulls contribute to a significant portion of this census. Associated specimens of Triceratops consisting of both cranial and postcranial elements remain relatively rare. This rarity may be explained by a historical collecting bias influenced by facies and taphonomic factors. The limited discovery of postcranial elements may also depend on how extensive a fossil quarry is expanded after a skull is collected.

Project description:BackgroundThe Late Cretaceous Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert, Mongolia has already yielded abundant and complete skeletons of the hadrosaur Saurolophus angustirostris, from half-grown to adult individuals.Methodology/principal findingsHerein we describe perinatal specimens of Saurolophus angustirostris, associated with fragmentary eggshell fragments. The skull length of these babies is around 5% that of the largest known S. angustirostris specimens, so these specimens document the earliest development stages of this giant hadrosaur and bridge a large hiatus in our knowledge of the ontogeny of S. angustirostris.Conclusions/significanceThe studied specimens are likely part of a nest originally located on a riverbank point bar. The perinatal specimens were buried by sediment carried by the river current presumably during the wet summer season. Perinatal bones already displayed diagnostic characters for Saurolophus angustirostris, including premaxillae with a strongly reflected oral margin and upturned premaxillary body in lateral aspect. The absence of a supracranial crest and unfused halves of the cervical neural arches characterize the earliest stages in the ontogeny of S. angustirostris. The eggshell fragments associated with the perinatal individuals can be referred to the Spheroolithus oogenus and closely resemble those found in older formations (e.g. Barun Goyot Fm in Mongolia) or associated with more basal hadrosauroids (Bactrosaurus-Gilmoreosaurus in the Iren Dabasu Fm, Inner Mongolia, China). This observation suggests that the egg microstructure was similar in basal hadrosauroids and more advanced saurolophines.Competing interestsOne of the authors (FE) is employed by the commercial organization Eldonia. Eldonia provided support in the form of a salary for FE, but did not have any additional role or influence in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript and it does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Dataset Information

A New Specimen of the Controversial Chasmosaurine Torosaurus latus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of Montana.

Publications

A New Specimen of the Controversial Chasmosaurine Torosaurus latus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of Montana.

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