Baby dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Lance and Hell Creek formations and a description of a new species of theropod
Author
Carpenter, Kenneth
text
Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming
1982
1982-01-31
20
123
134
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.3238510
a342eb67-842d-41ab-a05d-3f010d0038ec
3238510
Family
CERATOPSIDAE
Fig. 10
Material: Teeth:
UCM
37878 (UCMP-V5711) H
6 mm
,
W
3.8 mm
;
UCM
43526 (UCMP-V5711) H
2 mm
,
W
2.5 mm
;
UCM
45057 (UCMP-V 5711) H
3.6 mm
,
W
3.8 mm
;
UCM
45058 (UCMP-V 5711) H
3.5 mm
,
W
4.1 mm
; and
UCM
45059 (UCMP-V5711) H
4 mm
,
W
3.7 mm
.
Discussion
: Only
UCM
45059 is heavily worn. Unworn teeth have a triangular enameled face with a vertical medial ridge (
Fig. 10
). Small denticles are present along the upper edge of the enameled surface. Unlike adult ceratopsian teeth, these have a single unbifurcated root, a condition Hatcher and others (1907) noted for young incipient teeth. It is doubtful that these small teeth are incipient teeth of an adult, because they are well developed and have a long root, which is unlike the short, thin-walled, open root of the adult. It is probable that the root became bifurcated as the animal matured. Because there are two genera of ceratopsians (
Triceratops
and
Torosaurus
) in the Lance and Hell Creek formations, it is not possible to be more specific in the identification.