Albertaceratops

Phylogeny: Dinosauria > Ornithischia > Genasauria > Neornithischia > Cerapoda > Marginocephalia > Ceratopsia > Neoceratopsia > Coronosauria > Ceratopsoidea > Ceratopsidae > Centrosaurinae > Albertaceratopsini

Overview: Albertaceratops was a ceratopsid belonging to the subfamily Centrosaurinae. It’s also a member of the tribe Albertaceratopsini, for which it is the namesake, making it a relative of genera like Medusaceratops and Lokiceratops. Albertaceratopsins appear to have been an early diverging lineage of centrosaurines, with all three proposed members having lived between seventy-eight to seventy-seven million years ago. Fossils of these animals mainly come from the state of Montana, or like Albertaceratops, from the Canadian province of Alberta, for which the genus is named. The remains of Albertaceratops specifically come from the Oldman Formation. It likely coexisted with other herbivores like Anchiceratops, Parasaurolophus, and Maiasaura. Local carnivores included a few large tyrannosaurids like Daspletosaurus and dromaeosaurids like Saurornitholestes. Officially named as a genus in 2007, Albertaceratops is so far based on only one specimen – a skull.

Ceratopsid skulls are often well preserved and intact, largely due to the skulls being so rugged and huge. Like all of its ceratopsian relatives, Albertaceratops possessed a large, parrot-like beak, but also an array of shearing teeth set farther back in the mouth. It mainly fed upon ferns and cycads, or possibly some early flowering plants. The snout was deep, as was typical for a centrosaurine – chasmosaurine ceratopsids usually had narrower jaws. Albertaceratops had a pair of long horns on its brow, probably used for both courtship and defense, as well as a low, but prominent ridge over its snout. The frill was rounded, bearing large openings that were covered in life by skin and tissue, possibly bearing bright colors or patterns. On top of the frill were a series of outward-curving spines or hornlets, the largest of which sat at the very top of the frill. Similar cranial ornamentation can be seen on both Lokiceratops and Medusaceratops, reinforcing their close relationship.