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Kosmoceratops
Kosmoceratops (/ˌkɒzməˈsɛrətɒps/) is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur that lived in North America about 76–75.9 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. Specimens were discovered in Utah in the Kaiparowits Formation of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in 2006 and 2007, including an adult skull and postcranial skeleton and partial subadults. In 2010, the adult was made the holotype of the new genus and species Kosmoceratops richardsoni; the generic name means "ornate horned face", and the specific name honors Scott Richardson, who found the specimens. The find was part of a spate of ceratopsian discoveries in the early 21st century, and Kosmoceratops was considered significant due to its elaborate skull ornamentation.
Kosmoceratops had an estimated length of 4.5 m (15 ft) and a weight of 1.2 t (1.3 short tons). As a ceratopsid, it would have been quadrupedal with a heavily constructed skeleton. It had a triangular beak with a pointed tip and a blade-like nasal horn with a flattened upper portion. While the horns above the eyes were oriented forwards or hindwards in most of its relatives, the horns of Kosmoceratops pointed up and to the sides, then downwards, ending in pointed tips. The neck frill was short from front to back, with small parietal fenestrae (openings through the frill), and ten hook-like epiossifications on the hind margin, with eight curving forwards and two curving to the sides. With fifteen well-developed horns and horn-like structures, it possessed the most ornate skull of any known dinosaur species. Kosmoceratops was a chasmosaurine ceratopsid and was originally suggested to be closely related to Vagaceratops (which also had forward-curving epiossifications on the back of the frill) but this has been debated, some authors finding the latter closer to Chasmosaurus. Kosmoceratops is also considered closely related to Spiclypeus, which had a similar frill.
Studies of bone histology show that Kosmoceratops grew rapidly and had an elevated metabolism, similar to modern birds and mammals. The teeth of ceratopsids were adapted to processing fibrous plants; coprolites (fossilized dung) from the Kaiparowits Formation that contain wood may have been produced by ceratopsids. The functions of ceratopsian frills and horns have been debated, and include display, combat, and species recognition. The Kaiparowits Formation dates to the late Campanian age and was deposited on Laramidia, an island continent, when North America was divided at the center by the Western Interior Seaway. This environment was dominated by wetlands and supported a diverse fauna, including dinosaurs such as the chasmosaurine Utahceratops. Based in part on the relationship between Kosmoceratops and other chasmosaurines from around the same time, it has been proposed that Laramidia was divided into dinosaur "provinces" with separate endemic species (this interpretation suggests that Kosmoceratops in the south was most closely related to the geographically separated Vagaceratops in the north), but this has been contested.
Since 2000, the Natural History Museum of Utah (UMNH) and the Bureau of Land Management have been conducting paleontological surveys of the Kaiparowits Formation at the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in southern Utah. This national monument was established in 1996 in part for the preservation and study of its fossils, and the surveys there have yielded a wide array of unique dinosaur fossils. Field crews from other institutions have also participated, and the collaborative effort has been called the Kaiparowits Basin Project. Among the discoveries made were three new ceratopsian (horned dinosaur) taxa, one of which was identified from two localities (UMNH Locality VP 890 and 951) discovered by volunteer field crew member Scott Richardson during the field seasons of 2006 and 2007. It was preliminarily referred to as "Kaiparowits new taxon A" and identified as a chasmosaurine ceratopsid in a 2010 book. Prior to this project, the only ceratopsian remains found at the formation were uninformative, isolated teeth. Excavated fossils were transported to the UMNH, where the blocks were prepared by volunteers with pneumatic air scribes and needles and subsequently reassembled.
In 2010, the paleontologist Scott D. Sampson and colleagues named the new genus and species Kosmoceratops richardsoni, specimen UMNH VP 17000 (from Locality VP 890) being the holotype. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek kosmos, which means "ornamented", and ceratops, which means "horned face". The specific name honors Richardson, who found the holotype and many other fossils at GSENM. The full name can be translated as "ornate horned face of Richardson". The holotype includes a nearly complete adult skull that is missing the predentary bone (the frontmost bone of the lower jaw) and a small part of the left side of the face and neck frill (parts of the jugal, squamosal, and parietal bones), and the snout is bent to the right due to postmortem (after death) distortion. A considerable portion of the axial skeleton (such as vertebrae and ribs) was found associated with the skull, as well as part of the pelvic girdle and a limb. 45 percent of the postcranial skeleton was thought to be preserved, most of which was still under preparation by 2010. Assigned specimens include UMNH VP 16878, a disarticulated skull of a subadult (between juvenile and adult) about half the size of the adult, missing the premaxilla, rostral, and predentary bones, and specimen UMNH VP 21339, a disarticulated subadult or adult. In all, four specimens were reportedly found.
The describers of Kosmoceratops named the new chasmosaurine genera Utahceratops (also from the Kaiparowits Formation) and Vagaceratops (from the Dinosaur Park Formation, whose sole species, C. irvinensis, was formerly placed in Chasmosaurus) in the same article. These genera, which were considered unusual compared to typical members of their group, were part of a spate of ceratopsian discoveries in the early 21st century, when many new taxa were named (a 2013 study stated that half of all valid genera were named since 2003, and the decade has been called a "ceratopsid renaissance"). The main focus of the article by Sampson and colleagues was how these three ceratopsian genera provided new evidence for reconstructing the paleobiogeography of their time and place. In a 2010 press release announcing the study, Sampson described Kosmoceratops as "one of the most amazing animals known, with a huge skull decorated with an assortment of bony bells and whistles", and considered GSENM "one of the country's last great, largely unexplored dinosaur boneyards".
In 2017, the US government announced plans to shrink the GSENM (to little over half its size) and Bears Ears monuments to enable coal mining and other energy development on the land, which was the largest reduction of US national monuments in history. Sampson, who had overseen much of the early research at the former monument, expressed fear that such a move would threaten further discoveries. Media outlets stressed the importance of the area's fossil discoveries—including more than 25 new taxa—while some highlighted Kosmoceratops as one of the more significant finds. The US government was subsequently sued by a group of scientists, environmentalists, and Native Americans; in 2021, the monument was restored to its former extent by the new administration.
A partial skull (cataloged as CMN 8801) discovered in 1928 by fossil collector Charles M. Sternberg in the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada, was assigned to Chasmosaurus russelli in 1940, but only to Chasmosaurus in 1995, as the lack of a neck frill prevented the skull from being identified as a particular species. In 2014 (and in 2015, in an article that failed peer review), the paleontologist Nicholas R. Longrich considered the skull similar to Kosmoceratops in features of the snout but differing in the shape of the naris and nasal horn. He therefore proposed that it was a species of Kosmoceratops other than K. richardsoni and assigned it to K. sp. (of uncertain species). He found it premature to name the species because a neck frill is usually necessary to diagnose a ceratopsid species, and only one skull had been described so far, making it difficult to determine the features and range of variation of the species. In 2016, the paleontologist James A. Campbell and colleagues did not support the assignment of specimen CMN 8801 to Kosmoceratops, as they found the features this was based on to be either influenced by taphonomy (changes occurring during decay and fossilization) or to fall within the variation among Chasmosaurus specimens (though they did not assign it to a particular species in the genus). In 2020, the paleontologists Denver W. Fowler and Elizabeth A. Freedman Fowler stated that CMN 8801 may be more reliably assigned when better understanding of the anatomy in the front part of chasmosaurine skulls is reached.
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Kosmoceratops
Kosmoceratops (/ˌkɒzməˈsɛrətɒps/) is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur that lived in North America about 76–75.9 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. Specimens were discovered in Utah in the Kaiparowits Formation of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in 2006 and 2007, including an adult skull and postcranial skeleton and partial subadults. In 2010, the adult was made the holotype of the new genus and species Kosmoceratops richardsoni; the generic name means "ornate horned face", and the specific name honors Scott Richardson, who found the specimens. The find was part of a spate of ceratopsian discoveries in the early 21st century, and Kosmoceratops was considered significant due to its elaborate skull ornamentation.
Kosmoceratops had an estimated length of 4.5 m (15 ft) and a weight of 1.2 t (1.3 short tons). As a ceratopsid, it would have been quadrupedal with a heavily constructed skeleton. It had a triangular beak with a pointed tip and a blade-like nasal horn with a flattened upper portion. While the horns above the eyes were oriented forwards or hindwards in most of its relatives, the horns of Kosmoceratops pointed up and to the sides, then downwards, ending in pointed tips. The neck frill was short from front to back, with small parietal fenestrae (openings through the frill), and ten hook-like epiossifications on the hind margin, with eight curving forwards and two curving to the sides. With fifteen well-developed horns and horn-like structures, it possessed the most ornate skull of any known dinosaur species. Kosmoceratops was a chasmosaurine ceratopsid and was originally suggested to be closely related to Vagaceratops (which also had forward-curving epiossifications on the back of the frill) but this has been debated, some authors finding the latter closer to Chasmosaurus. Kosmoceratops is also considered closely related to Spiclypeus, which had a similar frill.
Studies of bone histology show that Kosmoceratops grew rapidly and had an elevated metabolism, similar to modern birds and mammals. The teeth of ceratopsids were adapted to processing fibrous plants; coprolites (fossilized dung) from the Kaiparowits Formation that contain wood may have been produced by ceratopsids. The functions of ceratopsian frills and horns have been debated, and include display, combat, and species recognition. The Kaiparowits Formation dates to the late Campanian age and was deposited on Laramidia, an island continent, when North America was divided at the center by the Western Interior Seaway. This environment was dominated by wetlands and supported a diverse fauna, including dinosaurs such as the chasmosaurine Utahceratops. Based in part on the relationship between Kosmoceratops and other chasmosaurines from around the same time, it has been proposed that Laramidia was divided into dinosaur "provinces" with separate endemic species (this interpretation suggests that Kosmoceratops in the south was most closely related to the geographically separated Vagaceratops in the north), but this has been contested.
Since 2000, the Natural History Museum of Utah (UMNH) and the Bureau of Land Management have been conducting paleontological surveys of the Kaiparowits Formation at the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in southern Utah. This national monument was established in 1996 in part for the preservation and study of its fossils, and the surveys there have yielded a wide array of unique dinosaur fossils. Field crews from other institutions have also participated, and the collaborative effort has been called the Kaiparowits Basin Project. Among the discoveries made were three new ceratopsian (horned dinosaur) taxa, one of which was identified from two localities (UMNH Locality VP 890 and 951) discovered by volunteer field crew member Scott Richardson during the field seasons of 2006 and 2007. It was preliminarily referred to as "Kaiparowits new taxon A" and identified as a chasmosaurine ceratopsid in a 2010 book. Prior to this project, the only ceratopsian remains found at the formation were uninformative, isolated teeth. Excavated fossils were transported to the UMNH, where the blocks were prepared by volunteers with pneumatic air scribes and needles and subsequently reassembled.
In 2010, the paleontologist Scott D. Sampson and colleagues named the new genus and species Kosmoceratops richardsoni, specimen UMNH VP 17000 (from Locality VP 890) being the holotype. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek kosmos, which means "ornamented", and ceratops, which means "horned face". The specific name honors Richardson, who found the holotype and many other fossils at GSENM. The full name can be translated as "ornate horned face of Richardson". The holotype includes a nearly complete adult skull that is missing the predentary bone (the frontmost bone of the lower jaw) and a small part of the left side of the face and neck frill (parts of the jugal, squamosal, and parietal bones), and the snout is bent to the right due to postmortem (after death) distortion. A considerable portion of the axial skeleton (such as vertebrae and ribs) was found associated with the skull, as well as part of the pelvic girdle and a limb. 45 percent of the postcranial skeleton was thought to be preserved, most of which was still under preparation by 2010. Assigned specimens include UMNH VP 16878, a disarticulated skull of a subadult (between juvenile and adult) about half the size of the adult, missing the premaxilla, rostral, and predentary bones, and specimen UMNH VP 21339, a disarticulated subadult or adult. In all, four specimens were reportedly found.
The describers of Kosmoceratops named the new chasmosaurine genera Utahceratops (also from the Kaiparowits Formation) and Vagaceratops (from the Dinosaur Park Formation, whose sole species, C. irvinensis, was formerly placed in Chasmosaurus) in the same article. These genera, which were considered unusual compared to typical members of their group, were part of a spate of ceratopsian discoveries in the early 21st century, when many new taxa were named (a 2013 study stated that half of all valid genera were named since 2003, and the decade has been called a "ceratopsid renaissance"). The main focus of the article by Sampson and colleagues was how these three ceratopsian genera provided new evidence for reconstructing the paleobiogeography of their time and place. In a 2010 press release announcing the study, Sampson described Kosmoceratops as "one of the most amazing animals known, with a huge skull decorated with an assortment of bony bells and whistles", and considered GSENM "one of the country's last great, largely unexplored dinosaur boneyards".
In 2017, the US government announced plans to shrink the GSENM (to little over half its size) and Bears Ears monuments to enable coal mining and other energy development on the land, which was the largest reduction of US national monuments in history. Sampson, who had overseen much of the early research at the former monument, expressed fear that such a move would threaten further discoveries. Media outlets stressed the importance of the area's fossil discoveries—including more than 25 new taxa—while some highlighted Kosmoceratops as one of the more significant finds. The US government was subsequently sued by a group of scientists, environmentalists, and Native Americans; in 2021, the monument was restored to its former extent by the new administration.
A partial skull (cataloged as CMN 8801) discovered in 1928 by fossil collector Charles M. Sternberg in the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada, was assigned to Chasmosaurus russelli in 1940, but only to Chasmosaurus in 1995, as the lack of a neck frill prevented the skull from being identified as a particular species. In 2014 (and in 2015, in an article that failed peer review), the paleontologist Nicholas R. Longrich considered the skull similar to Kosmoceratops in features of the snout but differing in the shape of the naris and nasal horn. He therefore proposed that it was a species of Kosmoceratops other than K. richardsoni and assigned it to K. sp. (of uncertain species). He found it premature to name the species because a neck frill is usually necessary to diagnose a ceratopsid species, and only one skull had been described so far, making it difficult to determine the features and range of variation of the species. In 2016, the paleontologist James A. Campbell and colleagues did not support the assignment of specimen CMN 8801 to Kosmoceratops, as they found the features this was based on to be either influenced by taphonomy (changes occurring during decay and fossilization) or to fall within the variation among Chasmosaurus specimens (though they did not assign it to a particular species in the genus). In 2020, the paleontologists Denver W. Fowler and Elizabeth A. Freedman Fowler stated that CMN 8801 may be more reliably assigned when better understanding of the anatomy in the front part of chasmosaurine skulls is reached.
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