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Attributes of the ceratopsian dinosaur Torosaurus, and new material from the Javelina Formation (Maastrichtian) of Texas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Rebecca K. Hunt  and
Thomas M. Lehman
Rebecca K. Hunt
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Augustana College, 639 38th Street, Rock Island, Illinois 61201-2296,
Thomas M. Lehman
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-1053,
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Abstract

A bone bed in the middle part of the Javelina Formation (Maastrichtian) in Texas yielded parts of about 37 identifiable ceratopsid dinosaur bones, mostly appendicular and limb girdle elements belonging to one juvenile and two adult individuals of Torosaurus cf. utahensis. The bone bed is a lag assemblage comprising large immobile parts of the skeletons accumulated in an abandoned stream channel. In general form and proportions the postcranial bones are similar to those in Pentaceratops sternbergi and are not as robust as those in Torosaurus latus or Triceratops horridus. A few cranial elements are preserved, including parts of a parietal, squamosal, maxilla, and two dentaries. The form of the parietal fragment is comparable to that of a more nearly complete specimen of Torosaurus cf. utahensis collected nearby at about the same stratigraphic level. The bone bed material provides a basis for the first skeletal reconstruction of this enigmatic horned dinosaur. Most characters used in diagnoses of T. utahensis and T. latus are inadequate. Only the raised bar along the squamosal/parietal suture, present in T. latus; and the midline epiparietal, absent in T. latus, may discriminate the two species.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 82 , Issue 6 , November 2008 , pp. 1127 - 1138
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society

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