Diceratops

*Diceratops Hatcheri*

***Nedoceratops*** (meaning "insufficient horned face") is a genus of ceratopsid herbivorous dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period Lance Formation of North America. It is known only from a single skull discovered in Wyoming. Its status is the subject of ongoing debate among paleontologists: some authors consider *Nedoceratops* a valid, distinct taxon, while others consider it to represent an ontogenetic (growth) stage of *Triceratops* and thus a synonym.

## Etymology

*Nedoceratops* means "insufficient horned face". The "nedo" is derived from the Russian prefix meaning "insufficient". The suffix common among ceratopsians, "ceratops", means "horned face". It was named in reference to its lack of a nasal horn.

## History of discovery

The paper that described *Nedoceratops* was originally part of O. C. Marsh's magnum opus, his Ceratopsidae monograph. Unfortunately, Marsh died (1899) before the work was completed, and John Bell Hatcher endeavored to complete the *Triceratops* section. However, he died of typhus in 1904 at the age of 42, leaving the paper still uncompleted. It fell to Richard Swann Lull to complete the monograph in 1905, publishing Hatcher's description of a skull separately and giving it the name *Diceratops hatcheri*; *Diceratops* means "two horned face."

Since the *Diceratops* paper had been written by Hatcher, and Lull had only contributed the name and published the paper after Hatcher's death, Lull was not quite as convinced of the distinctiveness of *Diceratops*, thinking it primarily pathological. By 1933, Lull had had second thoughts about *Diceratops* being a distinct genus and he put it in a subgenus of *Triceratops*: *Triceratops (Diceratops) hatcheri*, including *T. obtusus*; largely attributing its differences to being that of an aged individual.

Because the *Diceratops* name was already in use for a hymenopteran (Foerster, 1868), Andrey Sergeevich Ukrainsky gave the animal its current name *Nedoceratops* in 2007. Unaware that Ukrainsky had already renamed the animal, Octávio Mateus coined another new name for it in 2008, *Diceratus*. *Diceratus* is now considered a junior synonym of *Nedoceratops*.

## Description

*Nedoceratops* resembles that of *Triceratops*, with upturned brow horns, and no nose horn. The specimen also had several fractures and holes in its skull, leading experts to think that Nedoceratops was gored by another animal.

## Disputed Validity

In 2011, Jack Horner cut open and studied the inside of many ceratopsian animals. The study concluded that *Nedoceratops* (and many other ceratopsians) were growth stages of *Triceratops*, synonyms. The current theory is that the brow horns curled down with age, and the stubby nasal horn grew as the animal matured.

## JPInstitute.com Description

This dinosaur was similar to Triceratops in many ways. The main differences are that it had a small nose horn and some small holes in its frill. It was as big as Triceratops, so some scientists think it may have been a Triceratops with a bone disease that made it look different.

Diceratops is the name given to a single skull found nearly a hundred years ago. It appears to be a Triceratops, but has unusual openings in its frill. It may be separate species, or a Triceratops with a pathological cause for the holes in its frill. A 1996 study of the specimen concluded it is a valid genus, but that is still not universally accepted.

## Links

http://web.archive.org/web/20040214162329/http://www.jpinstitute.com/dinopedia/dinocards/dc\_dicer.html