Tematica Animali preistorici

Achelousaurus horneri Sampson, 1995

Phylum: Chordata Haeckel, 1874

Subphylum: Vertebrata Cuvier, 1812

Classe: Dinosauria Owen, 1841

Ordine: Ornithischia Seeley, 1888

Famiglia: Ceratopsidae Marsh, 1890

Genere: Achelousaurus Sampson, 1995

Descrizione

Lungo circa 4,5 metri, è caratteristico per il fatto di avere, all'estremità posteriore del collare osseo caratteristica della famiglia, due lunghi aculei. Sopra il naso, invece, si trovava un rigonfiamento osseo, che forse sosteneva un rivestimento corneo. Questo animale è spesso considerato un parente prossimo di Pachyrhinosaurus ed Einiosaurus, altri due ceratopsidi del periodo. Alcuni ricercatori sospettano che Achelousaurus altro non sia che una piccola specie di Pachyrhinosaurus.

Diffusione

Dinosauro ceratopside erbivoro del periodo Cretacico superiore del Nord America.

Bibliografia

–Brink, K. S.; Zelenitsky, D. K.; Evans, D. C.; Horner, J. R.; Therrien, F. (2015), "Cranial Morphology and Variation in Hypacrosaurus stebingeri (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae)", in Eberth, D. A.; Evans, D. C. (eds.), Hadrosaurs, Indiana University Press, ISBN 978-0253013859.
–Carr, Thomas D.; Varricchio, David J.; Sedlmayr, Jayc C.; Roberts, Eric M.; Moore, Jason R. (2017), "A new tyrannosaur with evidence for anagenesis and crocodile-like facial sensory system", Scientific Reports, 7: 44942, Bibcode: 2017NatSR...744942C.
–Currie, P. J.; Langston, W. Jr; Tanke, D. H. (2008), New Horned Dinosaur from an Upper Cretaceous Bone Bed in Alberta, Ottawa, Ontario: NRC Research Press, pp. 1–108.
–Dodson, P.; Forster, C. A.; Sampson, S. D. (2004), "Ceratopsidae", in Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H. (eds.), The Dinosauria (2 ed.), Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 494-513, ISBN 978-0520254084.
–Horner, J. R.; Dobb, E. (1997), Dinosaur Lives: Unearthing an Evolutionary Saga, San Diego, New York, London: Hartcourt Brace & Company.
–Maiorino, L. (2015), Macroevolutionary pattern in Ceratopsian Dinosaurs (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) and biomechanics: an integrated approach by means of geometric morphometrics and finite element analysis (Doctoral Thesis), Università degli studi Roma Tre.
–McDonald, A. T.; Farke, A. A. (2011), "A subadult specimen of Rubeosaurus ovatus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae), with observations on other Ceratopsids from the Two Medicine Formation", PLoS ONE, 6 (8): e22710, Bibcode: 2011PLoSO...622710M.
–Rogers, R. R. (1989), Taphonomy of three monospecific dinosaur bone beds in the Late Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation, northwestern Montana: Evidence for dinosaur mass mortality related to episodic drought (Master Thesis), University of Montana.
–Ryan, M. J.; Holmes, R.; Russell, A. P. (2007), "A revision of the late campanian centrosaurine ceratopsid genus Styracosaurus from the Western Interior of North America", Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27 (4): 944-962.
–Ryan, M. J.; Chinnery-Allgeier, B. J.; Eberth, D. A., eds. (2010), New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium, Indiana University Press, ISBN 978-0253353580.
–Ford, T. L., "A Ceratopsian Compendium", in Ryan, Chinnery-Allgeier & Eberth (2010), Supplemental CD-ROM.
–Henderson, D. M., "Skull shapes as indicators of niche partitioning by sympatric chasmosaurine and centrosaurine dinosaurs", in Ryan, Chinnery-Allgeier & Eberth (2010).
–Hunt, R.; Farke, A., "Behavioral interpretations from ceratopsid bonebeds", in Ryan, Chinnery-Allgeier & Eberth (2010).
–McDonald, A. T.; Horner, J. R., "New Material of "Styracosaurus" ovatus from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana", in Ryan, Chinnery-Allgeier & Eberth (2010).
–Ryan, M. J.; Eberth, D. A.; Brinkman, D. B.; Currie, P. J.; Tanke, D. H., "A New Pachyrhinosaurus-Like Ceratopsid from the Upper Dinosaur Park Formation (Late Campanian) of Southern Alberta, Canada", in Ryan, Chinnery-Allgeier & Eberth (2010).
–Sampson, S. D.; Loewen, M. A., "Unraveling a radiation: a review of the diversity, stratigraphic distribution, biogeography, and evolution of horned dinosaurs. (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae)", in Ryan, Chinnery-Allgeier & Eberth (2010).
–VanBuren, C. S. (2013), The Function and Evolution of the Syncervical in Ceratopsian Dinosaurs with a Review of Cervical Fusion in Tetrapods (Master Thesis), University of Toronto.

	Data: 23/05/2016 Emissione: Fauna e flora nel mondo - Dinosauri Stato: Maldives

	Data: 01/01/2009 Emissione: Animali preistorici Stato: Equatorial Guinea

	Data: 15/09/2014 Emissione: Dinosauri Stato: Ghana

	Data: 01/09/2016 Emissione: Dinosauri Stato: Solomon Islands