Spinops

Spinops Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 76.5 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Partial skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Family:	†Ceratopsidae
Clade:	†Centrosaurini
Genus:	†Spinops Farke et al., 2011
Species:	†S. sternbergorum
Binomial name
Spinops sternbergorum Farke et al., 2011

Spinops is an extinct genus of centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, southern Canada.^[1]

Discovery

Skull restoration

Restoration

Spinops is known from the holotype NHMUK R16307, a partial parietal bone, preserving most of the midline bar. Referred material include NHMUK R16308, a partial parietal bone, partial dentary and unidentifiable limb fragments, NHMUK R16306, an incomplete skull, preserving only the dorsal portion of the skull, and NHMUK R16309, a partial right squamosal. None of this material was found in articulation, however it was all closely associated in the same bone bed, in the northwestern region ("Steveville Badlands") of the Dinosaur Provincial Park. Fossils of Spinops were first found in 1916, and were housed in the Natural History Museum in London. The material was not described until 2011, when the new species Spinops sternbergorum was erected. The material was probably collected from the upper part of the Oldman Formation or the lower part of the Dinosaur Park Formation, dating to the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period.^[1]

History

Two partials skulls of Spinops were found in 1916, in a large bone bed near the Red Deer River of southern Alberta, by American commercial fossil collector Charles Hazelius Sternberg and his son Levi Sternberg. The fossils were sent to the Natural History Museum in London (then called the British Museum (Natural History)), which had financed the expedition. The museum considered the fossils too fragmentary to display, leaving them unprepared in the collections. In a letter to Charles H. Sternberg, English paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward of the British Museum called the Spinops material "nothing but rubbish".^[2] The precise whereabouts of the bonebed that yielded the fossils is unknown due to poor field record keeping, but Darren Tanke of the Royal Tyrrell Museum is spearheading attempts at its relocation. The fossils were re-examined in 2011 by a team led by Dr Andrew A. Farke; which realized that the fossils represented an entirely new species of dinosaur.^[3]

Etymology

Spinops was first named by Andrew A. Farke, Michael J. Ryan, Paul M. Barrett, Darren H. Tanke, Dennis R. Braman, Mark A. Loewen, and Mark R. Graham in 2011; the type species is Spinops sternbergorum. The generic name is derived from Latin spina, "spine", and Greek ops, "face", in reference to the unique ornamentation on the face. The specific name honours Charles H. and Levi Sternberg.^[1]

Phylogeny

Squamosal and holotype parietal

The cladogram presented here follows a 2011 phylogenetic analysis by Farke et al.^[1]

See also

• Timeline of ceratopsian research

References

Marginocephalia
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Clade: Dinosauria Order: Ornithischia
Pachycephalosauria Basal Pachycephalosaurs Wannanosaurus Pachycephalosauridae Stegoceras-line Stegoceras Hanssuesia Gravitholus Colepiocephale Texacephale Pachycephalosaurus-line Homalocephale Prenocephale Goyocephale Sphaerotholus Tylocephale Acrotholus Amtocephale Pachycephalosaurini Pachycephalosaurus Dracorex Stygimoloch Alaskacephale
Ceratopsia Basal Ceratopsians Yinlong Stenopelix Micropachycephalosaurus Albalophosaurus Chaoyangsauridae Chaoyangsaurus Xuanhuaceratops Psittacosauridae Psittacosaurus Neoceratopsia Mosaiceratops Microceratus Aquilops Liaoceratops Koreaceratops Auroraceratops Archaeoceratopsidae Archaeoceratops Yamaceratops Helioceratops Coronosauria Graciliceratops Leptoceratopsidae Leptoceratops Montanoceratops Prenoceratops Udanoceratops Zhuchengceratops Gryphoceratops Unescoceratops Cerasinops Asiaceratops Bainoceratops Bagaceratopidae Ajkaceratops Gobiceratops Bagaceratops Platyceratops Protoceratopsidae Protoceratops Breviceratops Lamaceratops Magnirostris Ceratopsoidea Zuniceratops Turanoceratops Ceratopsidae
Ceratopsidae Ceratopsinae Ceratops Centrosaurinae Albertaceratops Diabloceratops Machairoceratops Monoclonius Nasutoceratopsini Avaceratops Nasutoceratops Centrosaurini Centrosaurus Coronosaurus Rubeosaurus Spinops Styracosaurus Pachyrhinosaurini Achelousaurus Einiosaurus Pachyrhinosaurus Sinoceratops Xenoceratops Wendiceratops Chasmosaurinae Agujaceratops Anchiceratops Arrhinoceratops Bravoceratops Chasmosaurus Coahuilaceratops Judiceratops Kosmoceratops Medusaceratops Mercuriceratops Mojoceratops Pentaceratops Spiclypeus Utahceratops Vagaceratops Triceratopsini Eotriceratops Ojoceratops Polyonax Regaliceratops Tatankaceratops Titanoceratops Torosaurus Triceratops
Related Categories Ornithischians Ceratopsians Pachycephalosaurs