Redescription of UALVP 40, an unusual specimen ofChasmosaurusLambe, 1914 (Ceratopsidae: Chasmosaurinae) bearing long postorbital horns, and its implications for ontogeny and alpha taxonomy of the genus

Abstract

UALVP 40, an articulated and reasonably complete skull of a small chasmosaurine dinosaur collected in 1920 by George F. Sternberg from the lower unit of the Dinosaur Park Formation, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada, is here redescribed. The focus of the study is on the newly prepared right side of the skull and the hitherto undescribed mandible. There are substantial differences between the right and the left side of the skull, most notably the right postorbital horncore exhibits a greater angle of inclination at 60° from horizontal, which is approximately 15° greater than that of the left. The right side of the skull also shows many unfused cranial sutures that are obliterated on the left side. These unfused sutures and the short predentary lacking an anterior elongation, indicate that UALVP 40 likely represents a subadult individual. UALVP 40 is diagnosed to the genus Chasmosaurus by its possession of the following: (i) premaxillary flange along entire anterior margin of external naris; (ii) supraorbital horns curving posteriorly along their length; and (iii) squamosal dorsal border laterally adjacent to supratemporal fenestra straight in profile, sloping posteroventrally at a shallow angle before ascending farther posteriorly to form lateral border of parietal fenestra. The last character is newly proposed. A bivariate correlation in UALVP 40 and other Canadian specimens of Chasmosaurus bearing long postorbital horncores (>150 mm long) reveals a near isometric relationship between interorbital width and horn length. This may indicate those specimens represent an ontogenetic series of a single species diagnosed by long postorbital horncores.