Welcome! Join our community of dinosaur enthusiasts and support our show on Patreon.

REDISCOVER YOUR LOVE OF DINOSAURS.

Apple Podcasts     Spotify   Google Podcasts   Amazon Music listen to i know dino: the big dinosaur podcast on goodpods RSS

 

The Big Dinosaur Podcast

The Big Dinosaur Podcast

A site about dinosaurs

I Know Dino Podcast Show Notes: Chasmosaurus (Episode 119)

Episode 119 is all about Chasmosaurus, a ceratopsid that lived in the Cretaceous in North America.

We also share listener Vince’s experiences at Discover the Dinosaurs. Here are some photos he was kind enough to share:

Do you like dinosaur t-shirts? Join our community on Patreon now to get an Allosaurus t-shirt!

https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino

Thank you to all our current Patreon supporters!

You can listen to our free podcast, with all our episodes, on iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/i-know-dino/id960976813?mt=2

In this episode, we discuss:

News:

The dinosaur of the day: Chasmosaurus

  • Ceratopsid that lived in the Cretaceous in North America
  • Name means “opening lizard,” named that because of large openings in its frill
  • Found in the Dinosaur Park Formation of the Dinosaur Provincial Park of Alberta, Canada
  • Two species: Chasmosaurus russelli and Chasmosaurus belli (type species)
  • Chasmosaurus russelli is in the older lower Dinosaur Park Formation and Chasmosaurus belli is in the middle Dinosaur Park Formation
  • Lawrence Morris Lambe found the first Chasmosaurus bones in 1897 (holotype, part of a neck frill). He thought it could be a new species but categorized it as an already known genus, Monoclonius. He called it Monoclonis belli
  • Species name belli is in honor of collector Walter Bell
  • In 1913, Charles Sterberg and his sons found a few complete Monoclonis bellis skulls in Alberta (plus a largely complete skeleton with skin impressions), and in January 1914, Lambe named them Protorosaurus (as an ancestor to Torosaurus). But that name was already used for a Permian reptile found in Germany, described in 1836 by Meyer. So Lambe renamed it Chasmosaurus in February 1914
  • Many skulls and fossils have been referred to Chasmosaurus, and many species named (though only two are still valid)
  • Barnum Brown named Chasmosaurus kaiseni in 1933 (based on a skull that had long brow horns), which may be related to Chasmosaurus canadensis, named in 1990 by Thomas Lehman.
  • Chasmosaurus canadensis was originally Monoclonis canadensis (Lambe had found it in 1902 and described it as Eoceratops canadensis in 1915). This Eoceratops and Chasmosaurus kaiseni were thought to be Mojoceratops (Nicholas Longrich), but some scientists think Mojoceratops is a synonym of Chasmosaurus russelli. In 2016, Campbell and others found that Eoceratops and Chasmosaurus kaiseni were Chasmosaurus.
  • In 1933 Richard Swann Lull named a specimen Chasmosaurus breviorstris (had a short snout), but it’s now seen as a junior synonym of Chasmosaurus belli.
  • Charles Mortram Sternberg named Chasmosaurus russelli in 1940 (species name in honor of Loris Shano Russell).
  • In 1987 Gregory Paul renamed Pentaceratops sternbergii into Chasmosaurus, but no one has really accepted that
  • In 1989 Thomas Lehman described Chasmosaurus mariscalensis (found in Texas), but that’s been renamed Agujaceratops.
  • In 2000, George Olshevsy renamed Monoclonius recurvicornis (originally named in 1889) to Chasmosaurus recurvicornis, but it’s now a nomen dubium
  • In 2001, Chasmosaurus irvinensis was named, but has since been renamed Vagaceratops (in 2010)
  • Chasmosaurus was about 14-16 ft (4.3-4.8 m) long and weighed 1.5-2 tons
  • Skin impressions that Charles Sternberg found had large scales in horizontal rows that were among smaller scales (hexagonal or pentagonal), unclear about color
  • Had three horns, one on the nose and two on the brow
  • Horns were short, though Chasmosaurus russelli had longer horns (esp. brown horns), that were more curved backwards
  • Chasmosaurus belli had a v-shaped frill at the back (Chasmosaurus russelli is more of a shallow u-shape)
  • Sides of the frill had osteoderms
  • Not clear what Chasmosaurus used its horns and frill for (horns were short and frill had such large openings, so not great for defense). May have used its beak for defense instead
  • Frill may have been to look more vicious or for thermoregulation, or to attract mates (may have been brightly colored)
  • Skin covered the large openings so it would have looked like a solid frill (because of soft tissue in the frill, it’s possible Chasmosaurus could have flushed and made its frill look more vivid)
  • Had a longer snout and jaws than other ceratopsians it lived around, so may have been a pickier eater
  • May have taken care of its young
  • Phil Currie and a team found a juvenile Chasmosaurus belli in Alberta. Thought to be three years old and had similar limb and frill proportions to an adult, so probably wasn’t that fast, and didn’t need to be to keep up with adults
  • Chasmosaurinae is a subfamily of ceratopsid
  • Chasmosaurinae had large brow horns and long frills (compared to centrosaurines, another subfamily of ceratopsid, which had short brow horns and shorter frills with long spines coming out of the frills)
  • Chasmosaurine fossils have been found in western Canada, the western United States, and northern Mexico.

Fun fact: The first dinosaurs were carnivorous, later some dinosaurs were omnivorous, and eventually some dinosaurs were herbivorous. Herbivores were massively successful by the mid-Jurassic.

Allosaurus T-shirt (Limited Time!)

We have an Allosaurus t-shirt on sale at Teespring. Hurry, it’s only up for sale until March 27! Special thanks to artist Josh Cotton, the Doodling Dino, for the awesome drawing. Get it here:

teespring.com/iknowdino and we now have kids sizes available at teespring.com/iknowdinokids

Follow Us