Ceratosaurus nasicornis Marsh, 1884

Rauhut, Oliver W. M., 2003, The interrelationships and evolution of basal theropod dinosaurs, Special papers in palaeontology 69, pp. 1-213 : 24-25

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.3382576

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5123179

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/77323C29-FFDF-B428-FEE8-9EBDFE96FDCB

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Ceratosaurus nasicornis Marsh, 1884
status

 

Ceratosaurus nasicornis Marsh, 1884

Age . Kimmeridgian-Tithonian.

Occurrence. Morrison Formation, Utah, Colorado, USA.

Diagnosis. Narrow rounded ho rn core centrally placed on the fused nasals; median oval groove on nasals behind hom core; pubis with large, rounded notch underneath the obturator foramen; small epaxial osteoderms.

Remarks. Ceratosaurus ( Text-fig. 5 g View text ) certainly represents one of the more distinctive theropods of the Morrison Formation. The taxon long remained enigmatic, but the recent description of two new specimens by Madsen and Welles (2000) has greatly improved our knowledge of the anatomy of this genus, hitherto only known from the type specimen ( Marsh 1884, 1892, 1896; Hay 1908; Gilmore 1920). However, the referral by Madsen and Welles (2000) of these new specimens to two new species, C. dentisulcatus and C. magnicornis is not accepted here, since the differences used to distinguish them are subjective (e.g. relative ‘massiveness ’) or size-related and most probably lie within the individual variation of a single species.

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