[D] Triceratops alticornis
Describer
Marsh, 1887
Time
Cretaceous Late Maastrichtian
Classification
Ornithischia Genasauria Cerapoda Marginocephalia Ceratopia Neoceratopia Ceratopidae Chasmosaurinae
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Denver Formation, Colorado, US
Fall Under
Triceratops
Info
Triceratops (Marsh, 1889) = Sterrholophus flabellatus (Marsh, 1891)
Triceratops > Triceratops horridus (Marsh, 1889) = Ceratops horridus (Marsh, 1889) >> Triceratops alticornis (Marsh, 1887) Triceratops flabellatus (Marsh, 1889), Triceratops prorsus (Marsh, 1890), Triceratops serratus (Marsh, 1890), Triceratops elatus (Marsh, 1891) Triceratops calicornis (Marsh, 1898), Triceratops obtusus (Marsh, 1898), Triceratops hatcheri (Lull, 1905), Triceratops brevicornus (Hatcher, 1905), Triceratops eurycephalus (Schlaikjer, 1935), Triceratops albertensis (Sternberg, 1949)
Holotype
USNM 4739 collected by G.L. Cannon in 1887 and the type material consists of a partial set of horns
Named by Marsh in the American Journal of Science, volume 34, page 343, in 1887 as \\\"Bison\\\" alticornis . (Because of the horn core, Marsh thought that he had found Bison in the Cretaceous.) The genus Bison is not and never was considered to be dinosaurian. Marsh originally referred the ceratopian horn cores to that genus because he at first did not imagine they belonged to a dinosaur. When he realized what they were, he corrected himelf by referring them to his own ceratopian genus Ceratops (type species Ceratops montanus) as C. alticornis. That was the first time the horn cores were considered dinosaurian.
It was Lull (in the big ceratopian monograph by Hatcher, Marsh & Lull, 1907) who referred the species to Triceratops as Triceratops alticornis. It\\\'s possible that Cope referred this species to Polyonax as P. alticornis. Indeed, if it could be shown that the Triceratops alticornis horn cores belonged to a Triceratops horridus, the latter species name would have to be changed to T. alticornis. But so far it\\\'s impossible to identify the horn cores to the species level--and indeed to the generic level (they could well be Tororsaurus or Diceratops horn cores, for example)--so Triceratops horridus is safe, and Triceratops alticornis should for the present remain an isolated nomen dubium species within the genus Triceratops.
Marsh, 1887
Time
Cretaceous Late Maastrichtian
Classification
Ornithischia Genasauria Cerapoda Marginocephalia Ceratopia Neoceratopia Ceratopidae Chasmosaurinae
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Denver Formation, Colorado, US
Fall Under
Triceratops
Info
Triceratops (Marsh, 1889) = Sterrholophus flabellatus (Marsh, 1891)
Triceratops > Triceratops horridus (Marsh, 1889) = Ceratops horridus (Marsh, 1889) >> Triceratops alticornis (Marsh, 1887) Triceratops flabellatus (Marsh, 1889), Triceratops prorsus (Marsh, 1890), Triceratops serratus (Marsh, 1890), Triceratops elatus (Marsh, 1891) Triceratops calicornis (Marsh, 1898), Triceratops obtusus (Marsh, 1898), Triceratops hatcheri (Lull, 1905), Triceratops brevicornus (Hatcher, 1905), Triceratops eurycephalus (Schlaikjer, 1935), Triceratops albertensis (Sternberg, 1949)
Holotype
USNM 4739 collected by G.L. Cannon in 1887 and the type material consists of a partial set of horns
Named by Marsh in the American Journal of Science, volume 34, page 343, in 1887 as \\\"Bison\\\" alticornis . (Because of the horn core, Marsh thought that he had found Bison in the Cretaceous.) The genus Bison is not and never was considered to be dinosaurian. Marsh originally referred the ceratopian horn cores to that genus because he at first did not imagine they belonged to a dinosaur. When he realized what they were, he corrected himelf by referring them to his own ceratopian genus Ceratops (type species Ceratops montanus) as C. alticornis. That was the first time the horn cores were considered dinosaurian.
It was Lull (in the big ceratopian monograph by Hatcher, Marsh & Lull, 1907) who referred the species to Triceratops as Triceratops alticornis. It\\\'s possible that Cope referred this species to Polyonax as P. alticornis. Indeed, if it could be shown that the Triceratops alticornis horn cores belonged to a Triceratops horridus, the latter species name would have to be changed to T. alticornis. But so far it\\\'s impossible to identify the horn cores to the species level--and indeed to the generic level (they could well be Tororsaurus or Diceratops horn cores, for example)--so Triceratops horridus is safe, and Triceratops alticornis should for the present remain an isolated nomen dubium species within the genus Triceratops.