| Titanoceratops Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Closeup of the unrestored region of the skull | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Neornithischia |
| Clade: | †Ceratopsia |
| Family: | †Ceratopsidae |
| Subfamily: | †Chasmosaurinae |
| Tribe: | †Triceratopsini |
| Genus: | †Titanoceratops Longrich, 2011 |
| Type species | |
| †Titanoceratops ouranos Longrich, 2011
| |
Titanoceratops (meaning "titanic horned face") is a controversial genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur. It was a giant chasmosaurine ceratopsian that lived in the Late Cretaceous period (Campanian stage, about 75 million years ago[1]) in what is now New Mexico. Titanoceratops was named for its large size, being one of the largest known horned dinosaurs and the type species was named T. ouranos, after Uranus (Ouranos), the father of the Greek titans. It was named in 2011 by Nicholas R. Longrich for a specimen previously referred to Pentaceratops. Longrich believed that unique features found in the skull reveal it to have been a close relative of Triceratops, classified within the subgroup Triceratopsini. However, other researchers have expressed skepticism, and believe "Titanoceratops" to simply be an unusually large, old specimen of Pentaceratops.
The holotype specimen is OMNH 10165, a partial skeleton including a mostly complete skull and jaws, and much of the skeleton. It was found in either the upper Fruitland Formation or the lower Kirtland Formation. The original quarry is lost, so it is not known which formation the fossil was excavated from. The formations are both late Campanian in age. The skull is incomplete, but as currently reconstructed it measures 2.65 metres (8.7 ft) long, making it a candidate for the longest skull of any land animal. With an estimated weight of 6.55 tonnes (6.45 long tons; 7.22 short tons) and length of 6.8 metres (22.3 ft), Titanoceratops was comparable in size with the largest ceratopsians, Torosaurus and Triceratops, and was likely the largest animal in its ecosystem, if not in North America, at the time.
- ^ Fowler, D. W. 2017. Revised geochronology, correlation, and dinosaur stratigraphic ranges of the Santonian-Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) formations of the Western Interior of North America. PLoS ONE 12(11): e0188426.