Avaceratops

Name: Avaceratops ‭(‬Ava horned face‭).
Phonetic: A-vah-seh-rah-tops.
Named By: Peter Dodson‭ ‬-‭ ‬1986.‭
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Marginocephalia,‭ ‬Ceratopsia,‭ ‬Ceratopsidae.
Species: A.‭ ‬lammersi‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Possibly up to 4.2 meters long.
Known locations: USA,‭ ‬Montana‭ ‬-‭ ‬Judith River Formation.‭
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Scattered partial remains.




       Avaceratops was a relatively small ceratopsian dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of North America.‭ ‬What makes its classification difficult however is the fact that its neck frill is short and lacks any fenestrae‭ (‬openings‭)‬,‭ ‬and with the exception of others like Triceratops,‭ ‬ceratopsians can usually be divided into either centrosaurine or chasmosaurine groups,‭ ‬although both have fenestral openings in their frills.‭ ‬This had led to Avaceratops‭ ‬being placed between these two larger groups with speculation that it may represent the ancestral form of Triceratops as well as possibly being a juvenile specimen which could account for its small body size and relatively small horns and frill.
       The name Avaceratops is derived from Ava Cole,‭ ‬the wife of Eddie Cole who found the first fossil remains in‭ ‬1981.‭ ‬The species name A.‭ ‬lammersi is in honour of the Lammers family who owned the land the fossils were found on.‭ ‬The fossil remains were found in what would have been a stream bed in the Cretaceous,‭ ‬and it‭’‬s thought that this dinosaur was washed there where the running water scattered the bones as it decayed.

Further reading
- Avaceratops lammersi: a new ceratopsid from the Judith River Formation of Montana. - Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 138(2):305-317. - P. Dodson - 1986.
- The morphology of Avaceratops lammersi, a primitive ceratopsid from the Campanian of Montana. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 13(3, suppl.): 52A. - P. G. Penkalski - 1993.
- The morphology and systematics of Avaceratops, a primitive horned dinosaur from the Judith River Formation (Late Campanian) of Montana, with the description of a second skull. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19 (4): 692–711. - P. Penkalski & P. Dodson - 1999.



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