scholarly journals New insights into chasmosaurine (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) skulls from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) of Alberta, and an update on the distribution of accessory frill fenestrae in Chasmosaurinae

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5194
Author(s):  
James A. Campbell ◽  
Michael J. Ryan ◽  
Claudia J. Schröder-Adams ◽  
David C. Evans ◽  
Robert B. Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Variation ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Size And Shape ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Position And Orientation ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation

Chasmosaurine ceratopsids are well documented from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation (DPF) of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, and includeChasmosaurus belli,Chasmosaurus russelli,Mercuriceratops gemini,Vagaceratops irvinensis, and material possibly referable toSpiclypeus shipporum.In this study, we describe three recently prepared chasmosaurine skulls (CMN 8802, CMN 34829, and TMP 2011.053.0046) from the DPF, and age-equivalent sediments, of Alberta. CMN 8802 and CMN 34829 are both referred toChasmosaurussp. based on the size and shape of the preserved parietal fenestrae. TMP 2011.053.0046 is referred toVagaceratopssp. based on the position and orientation of its preserved epiparietals. Each skull is characterized by the presence of an accessory fenestra in either the squamosal (CMN 8802 and TMP 2011.053.0046) or parietal (CMN 34829). Such fenestrae are common occurrences in chasmosaurine squamosals, but are rare in the parietal portion of the frill. The origin of the fenestrae in these three specimens is unknown, but they do not appear to exhibit evidence of pathology, as has been previously interpreted for the accessory fenestrae in most other chasmosaurine frills. These three skulls contribute to a better understanding of the morphological variation, and geographic and stratigraphic distribution, of chasmosaurines within the DPF and age-equivalent sediments in Western Canada.

The first record of spiral coprolites from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Judith River Group, Upper Cretaceous) southern Alberta, Canada

1995 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 1191-1194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive E. Coy
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
First Record ◽  
Niobrara Formation ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation

Spiral coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous of North America are poorly known. Enterospirae (fossilized intestines) reported from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation of western Kansas (Stewart, 1978) were disputed by McAllister (1985), who felt they represented spiral coprolites similar to those described from the Permian by Neumayer (1904). Previously described coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta are small, unstructured, ellipsoidal forms thought to derive from a crocodilian or terrestrial, carnivorous reptile of necrophagic or piscivorous habits (Waldman, 1970; Waldman and Hopkins, 1970).

THE APPLICATION OF A NEW NOMENCLATURAL APPROACH TO UPPER CRETACEOUS PLANT MICROFOSSILS FROM WESTERN CANADA

1957 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn E. Rouse
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
New Genera ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Plant Microfossils ◽  
New System

A new system of nomenclature is proposed with the purpose of presenting a scheme which will be applicable to spores, pollens, and other microfossils from all geological ages. A review of previous nomenclatural systems is presented to indicate the historical development of microfossil nomenclature. The applicability of the new system is illustrated by naming 21 new species and four new genera of Upper Cretaceous microfossils from the Comox formation of Vancouver Island and the Oldman formation of southern Alberta. The microfossil conspecti are briefly compared with the assemblage previously reported from the Brazeau formation of western Alberta. Advantages of the new nomenclatural scheme are discussed in the light of future discoveries of plant microfossils, and their application to palaeobotanical and geological problems.

CANADA'S FIRST KNOWN DINOSAURS: PALAEONTOLOGY AND COLLECTING HISTORY OF UPPER CRETACEOUS VERTEBRATES IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA AND SASKATCHEWAN, 1874–1889

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-218
Author(s):  
BRIGID E. CHRISTISON ◽  
DARREN H. TANKE ◽  
JORDAN C. MALLON
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Vertebral Centra ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
British North American ◽  
Diversity Dynamics ◽  
Provincial Park

The early collecting history of dinosaurs and other fossil vertebrates in Western Canada during the 1870s and 1880s is poorly documented. Initial finds were made by the British North American Boundary Commission and the Geological Survey of Canada in modern Saskatchewan and Alberta but, beyond a few well-publicized examples, little is known about precisely what was found and where. Much of the collected material is now housed in the collections of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Gatineau, Quebec, and a recent survey of these historic finds allows for the first comprehensive narrative regarding their identity and procurement. The collection is heavily biased towards vertebral centra and phalanges, reflective of both taphonomic and collecting biases. Given current understanding of Upper Cretaceous assemblages of North America, ornithomimids and small theropods are overrepresented, whereas ceratopsids and ankylosaurs are underrepresented. Fossils from the Belly River Group are best represented, after repeated visits to the areas of present-day Dinosaur Provincial Park and Ross Coulee near Irvine, Alberta. Taxonomic identification of the material has yielded numerous first Canadian occurrences, in addition to some first global occurrences. The latter include the first ever occurrences of Caenagnathidae (1884) and Thescelosauridae (1889). The Upper Cretaceous fossil record of Western Canada is among the richest in the world, and has been thoroughly studied over the last century. These fossils have informed our understanding of dinosaur behaviour, taphonomy, ecology, diversity dynamics, and extinction, among other aspects. But, like the animals themselves, the story of Canada's dinosaur-hunting legacy had humble beginnings—a story that has not been fully revealed before now.

scholarly journals A Re-Evaluation of the Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid Genus Chasmosaurus (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation of Western Canada

PLoS ONE ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. e0145805 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Campbell ◽  
Michael J. Ryan ◽  
Robert B. Holmes ◽  
Claudia J. Schröder-Adams
Keyword(s):  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation

Origins of dinosaur bonebeds in the Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 655-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Eberth
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Seasonal Basis ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Scientific Attention ◽  
Flooding Events ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
Warm Temperate ◽  
Provincial Park

Upper Cretaceous dinosaur bonebeds are common in Alberta, Canada, and have attracted continuous scientific attention since the 1960s. Since its inception, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology has documented the presence of hundreds of these sites and has been involved directly in the scientific study of many tens. Because many of these bonebeds have been used to address questions about the paleobiology and paleoecology of dinosaurs, questions have arisen about bonebed origins and preservation in the Cretaceous of Alberta. This study of 260 bonebeds delineates broad paleoenvironmental settings and associations, and taphonomic signatures of assemblages as a first step in assessing patterns of dinosaur bonebed origins in the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta. Bonebeds are known predominantly from the Belly River Group and the Horseshoe Canyon, lower St. Mary River, Wapiti, and Scollard formations. In these units, bonebeds are mostly associated with river channel and alluvial wetland settings that were influenced by a subtropical to warm-temperate, monsoonal climate. Most bonebeds formed in response to flooding events capable of killing dinosaurs, reworking and modifying skeletal remains, and burying taphocoenoses. The “coastal-plain-flooding hypothesis,” proposed in 2005, suggested that many bonebeds in the Dinosaur Park Formation formed in response to the effects of recurring coastal-plain floods that submerged vast areas of ancient southern Alberta on a seasonal basis. It remains the best mechanism to explain how many of the bonebeds were formed and preserved at Dinosaur Provincial Park, and here, is proposed as the mechanism that best explains bonebed origins in other Upper Cretaceous formations across central and southern Alberta.

Dinosaur biostratigraphy of the Edmonton Group (Upper Cretaceous), Alberta, Canada: evidence for climate influence

2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 701-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Eberth ◽  
David C. Evans ◽  
Donald B. Brinkman ◽  
François Therrien ◽  
Darren H. Tanke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Mean Annual Temperature ◽  
Middle Zone ◽  
Faunal Change ◽  
Morphological Stasis ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Bottom To Top ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation

A high-resolution biostratigraphic analysis of 287 dinosaurian macrofossils and 138 bonebeds in the Edmonton Group (Upper Cretaceous) of southern Alberta provides evidence for at least three dinosaurian assemblage zones in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (HCFm). From bottom to top the zones comprise unique assemblages of ornithischians and are named as follows: (1) Edmontosaurus regalis – Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis (lower zone); (2) Hypacrosaurus altispinus – Saurolophus osborni (middle zone); and (3) Eotriceratops xerinsularis (upper zone). Whereas the lower and middle zones are well defined and based on abundant specimens, the validity of the uppermost zone (E. xerinsularis) is tentative because it is based on a single specimen and the absence of dinosaur taxa from lower in section. The transition from the lower to the middle zone coincides with the replacement of a warm-and-wet saturated deltaic setting by a cooler, coastal-plain landscape, characterized by seasonal rainfall and better-drained substrates. Whereas changes in rainfall and substrate drainage appear to have influenced the faunal change, changes in mean annual temperature and proximity to shoreline appear to have had little influence on faunal change. We speculate that the faunal change between the middle and upper zones also resulted from a change in climate, with ornithischian dinosaurs responding to the re-establishment of wetter-and-warmer climates and poorly-drained substrates. Compared with the shorter-duration and climatically-consistent dinosaurian assemblage zones in the older Dinosaur Park Formation of southern Alberta, HCFm assemblage zones record long-term morphological stasis in dinosaurs. Furthermore, the coincidence of faunal and paleoenvironmental changes in the HCFm suggest climate-change-driven dinosaur migrations into and out of the region.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document