[11][86], The paleofauna of Bayan Mandahu is very similar in composition to the nearby Djadokhta Formation, with both formations sharing several of the same genera, but differing in the exact species. Given that the Velociraptor is relatively complete, Carpenter suggested that it may have been completely or partially buried by sand. The humerus (upper arm bone) was large and slender, and at the lower part it meet with both radius and ulna. [120], Later in 2010, Kirkland and Kenneth Bader redescribed and discussed the numerous feeding traces from this Protoceratops specimen, which they nicknamed Fox Site Protoceratops. Fact or Fiction. Protoceratops c dim xp np ln c, c th phc v nh l tm bo v c, ni duy tr cc c quai hm, e da cc loi khc, hoc t hp ca cc chc nng ny. The difference in morphologies between Protoceratops also suggests that the nearby Bayan Mandahu Formation is slightly younger than the Djadokhta Formation. [123], In 2011 Fastovsky with colleagues concluded that the juveniles within the nest MPC-D 100/530 were rapidly overwhelmed by a strong sand-bearing event and entombed alive. The team stated that feeding by Velociraptor upon Protoceratops was probably a relatively common occurrence in these environments, and that this ceratopsian actively formed part of the diet of Velociraptor. The habitat seems to have been quite dry . First group includes individuals with a well-developed bony ridge on the lateral surface of the squamosal bone, and the posterior border of the squamosal is backwards oriented. Though a drowning scenario has been proposed by Barsbold,[32] such hypothesis is considered unlikely given the arid paleoenvironments or settings of the Djadokhta Formation. Since Protoceratops fossils are only found in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and this specimen was likely discovered during the Central Asiatic Expeditions, the team concluded that this skull was probably acquired by the Delft University between 1940 and 1972 as part of a collection transfer. DEA PICTURE LIBRARY/Getty Images When the type fossil of Oviraptor was unearthed, in 1923, it was sitting atop a clutch of fossilized eggsprompting the theory that it had just raided a Protoceratops nest. Protoceratops was an early relative of the great horned dinosaurs, such as Triceratops . Published November 29, 2011 Share Tweet Email [125], Dodson in 1996 pointed out Greek writers began describing the griffin around 675 B.C., at the same time the Greeks first made contact with Scythian nomads. Frambenen var ungefr 30% kortare n bakbenen, [ 3] vilket . It is one of the oldest species of stegosaurs known and would have resembled Kentrosaurus in appearance. Named primarily as designation of a similar genus to Ceratops, meaning "before Ceratops", it is a genus considered on many platforms to be misclassified. A green oasis has popped up in Hanoi, a city choked by smog. This elongation started from the first to the fourteenth caudal. Maiorino and team nevertheless, cited that the typical regarded Protoceratops male, AMNH 6438, pretty much resembles the rostrum morphology of AMNH 6466, a typical regarded female. [50], Furthermore, with the re-examinations of Turanoceratops in 2009 and Zuniceratopstwo critical ceratopsian taxa regarding the evolutionary history of ceratopsidsin 2010 it was concluded that the origin of ceratopsids is unrelated to, and older than the fossil record of Protoceratops and relatives. The rostral bone was devoid of teeth, high and triangular in shape. The large number of vertebrate fossils found have enabled scientists to build up a detailed knowledge of the ecosystem, an ecosystem dominated by dinosaurs but one that shows the rise and diversity of mammals as well. Below is the obtained cladogram, showing the position of Protoceratops and Bagaceratops:[54], Longrich and team in 2010 indicated that highly derived morphology of P. hellenikorhinuswhen compared to P. andrewsiindicates that this species may represent a lineage of Protoceratops that had a longer evolutionary history compared to P. andrewsi, or simply a direct descendant of P. andrewsi. Este grupo de saurpsidos apareci hace 231 millones de aos durante el perodo Trisico, aunque su origen y su diversificacin es . The clavicle of Protoceratops was an U to slightly V-shaped element that joined to the upper border of the scapulocoracoid. . [63], Tereschenko in 2018 examined the cervical vertebrae series of six P. andrewsi specimens. [31], The Fighting Dinosaurs specimen preserves a Protoceratops (MPC-D 100/512) and Velociraptor (MPC-D 100/25) fossilized in combat and provides an important window regarding direct evidence of predator-prey behavior in non-avian dinosaurs. [97] Dominant sediments at Djadokhta include dominant reddish-orange and pale orange to light gray, medium to fine-grained sands and sandstones, caliche, and sparse fluvial (river-deposited) processes. [5] In 2001 Lambert and colleagues considered the development of the two nasal "horns" of P. hellenikorhinus to be a trait that was delayed in relation to the appearance of sexual-discriminant traits. The nest (MPC-D 100/530) containing 15 articulated juveniles was collected from the Tugriken Shireh locality of the Djadokhta Formation during the work of Mongolian-Japanese paleontological expeditions. Their neural spines were elongated and sub-rectangular in shape with a tendency to become more elongated in posterior vertebrae. [5] Barsbold in his brief 1974 description of the Fighting Dinosaurs specimen accepted this hypothesis and suggested that Protoceratops was amphibious (water-adapted) and had well-developed swimming capacities based on its side to side flattened tail with very high neural spines. ; Justina Machado as Zee: A striped polecat who was a former member of Buck's superhero team. Until the 1920's, palaeontologists (that's fossil scientists) thought that all dinosaurs lived in swamps and forests. The use of the frill as a displaying structure may be related to other anatomical features of Protoceratops such as the premaxillary teeth (at least for P. andrewsi) which could have been used in display or intraspecific combat, or the high neural spines of tail. Protoceratops was a herbivore, living in the late Cretaceous of China and Mongolia. Both dentary and maxillary teeth presented marked homodontya dental condition where the teeth share a similar shape and size. Protoceratops was a primitive ceratopsian, about the size of a sheep, that lived in the prehistoric Gobi desert at least 75 million years ago. [9] In 1990 the Russian paleontologist Sergei Mikhailovich Kurzanov referred additional material from Hermiin Tsav to P. kozlowskii. [27] Moreover, phylogenetic analyses published in 2008 by Darla K. Zelenitsky and Franois Therrien have shown that Protoceratopsidovum represents the eggs of a maniraptoran more derived than oviraptorids and not Protoceratops. The missing limbs of the Protoceratops were afterwards taken by scavengers. The coronoid (highest point of the lower jaw) was blunt-shaped and touched by the coronoid process of the dentary, being obscured by the jugal. The type species is Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna. This resulted in the interpretation of the contemporary Oviraptor as an egg predatory animal, an interpretation also reflected in its generic name. Its fossils have been found in places such as Gansu (China), Bayankhongor (Mongolia) and Inner Mongolia (China). It was subsequently analyzed by the paleontologist Walter W. Granger who identified it as reptilian. Protoceratops is a dinosaur which lived around 71 million years ago during the end of the Mesozoic Period. 'first horned face') is a genus of small protoceratopsid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous, around 75 to 71 million years ago. [103] Ukhaa Tolgod, a highly fossiliferous locality is also included in the Bayn Dzak member. The sacral vertebrae were firmly coosified giving form to the sacrum, which was connected to the inner sides of both ilia. If this dinosaur had grown to adulthood, it would have developed a neck frill, too. In the 2000s during the preparation of the specimen, a fossilized cast of a four-toed digitigrade footprint was found below the pelvic girdle. Lastly, Schmitz and Motani concluded that ecological niche was a potential main driver in the development of daily activity. Although ceratopsians have been found all over the world, protoceratopsids are only definitively known from Cretaceous strata in Asia, with most specimens found in China and Mongolia.As ceratopsians, protoceratopsids were herbivorous, with constantly replacing tooth batteries made for slicing . The radius had a slightly recurved shape and was longer than the ulna. Several of the embryos were associated with a black to white halo (circumference). andrewsi. [6] In 1951 Edwin H. Colbert considered Protoceratops to represent a key ancestor for the ceratopsid lineage, suggesting that it ultimately led to the evolution of large-bodied ceratopsians such as Styracosaurus and Triceratops. Thanks to the large collection of skulls found in the expeditions, they concluded that Protoceratops represented a ceratopsian more primitive than ceratopsids and not an ankylosaur-ceratopsian ancestor. Stumper. Tena un tamao pequeo y un crneo grande. The team indicated that it is very likely that these were made by scavenging insects, however, relatively large borings (about 3cm (30mm) wide) in the ribs and scapulae of one Protoceratops specimen (MPC-D100/534) indicates that insects were not the only scavengers involved in the bone damage, but also mammals. It belonged to a group of dinosaurs called the Cerapoda. In both nests, the babies' heads are oriented in the same direction, facing away from the ancient prevailing winds. Most fossils were in an excellent state of preservation with even sclerotic rings (delicate ocular bones) preserved in some specimens, quickly making Protoceratops one of the best-known dinosaurs from Asia. A group of five medium-sized and adult Protoceratops was observed at the Bayan Mandahu locality. [71] Longrich in 2010 argued that the high tail and frill of Protoceratops may have helped it to shed excess heat during the dayacting as large-surface structureswhen the animal was active in order to survive in the relatively arid environments of the Djadokhta Formation without highly developed cooling mechanisms. Schmitz and Motani separated ecological and phylogenetic factors and by examining 164 living species and noticed that eye measurements are quite accurate when inferring diurnality, cathemerality, or nocturnality in extinct tetrapods. The maxillary teeth of ceratopsians were usually packed into a dental battery that formed vertical shearing blades which probably chopped the leaves. The specific name, andrewsi, is in honor of Andrews for his prominent leadership during the expeditions. The premaxilla had two alveoli on its lower edgea character that was present at least on P. andrewsi. [33][34][35], During the Third Central Asiatic Expedition in 1923, a nearly complete Protoceratops skeleton (specimen AMNH 6418) was collected at the Flaming Cliffs. It appears that Protoceratops may have frequently been hunted by Velociraptor, as a spectacular fossil was discovered showing the two animals locked in combat before death. The results indicated that Protoceratops was a cathemeral herbivore and Velociraptor primarily nocturnal, suggesting that the Fighting Dinosaurs deathmatch may have occurred at twilight or under low-light conditions. They interpreted the interaction as the Protoceratops being grasped and dispatched with kicks delivered by the low-lying Velociraptor. [77], In 2016 Hone and colleagues analyzed 37 skulls of P. andrewsi, finding that the neck frill of Protoceratops (in both length and width) underwent positive allometry during ontongeny, that is, a faster growth/development of this region than the rest of the animal. The nests are small, bowl-shaped depressions that contain as many as 15 babies, each about 6 inches long (see Fig. These results suggest that they functioned as socio-sexual dominance signals, or, they were mostly used in display. [8], The specimen shortly became notorious and was nicknamed the Fighting Dinosaurs. Griffins were described as guarding the gold deposits in the arid hills and red sandstone formations of the wilderness. However, the discovery of Protoceratops' eggs fossilised in sandy pits in desert areas of China and Mongolia proved that theory wrong. The former was described in 1923 with fossils from the Mongolian Djadokhta Formation, and the latter in 2001 with fossils from the Chinese Bayan Mandahu Formation. They had a short but powerful tail and walked on four thick legs weighing up to 11,000 kg (24,250 pounds) and could reach up to 9m (30 feet) in length and 3m (10 feet) in height. As Protoceratops was a relatively basal (primitive) ceratopsian, the finding may imply that other ceratopsians provided care for their young as well. [47] The fossilized footprint associated with the specimen ZPAL Mg D-II/3 described by Niedwiedzki in 2012 indicates that Protoceratops was digitigrade, meaning that it walked with its toes supporting the body weight. [18], Viktor Tereshchenko and Vladimir R. Alifanov in 2003 named a new protoceratopsid dinosaur from the Bayn Dzak locality, Bainoceratops efremovi . Saneyoshi and team emphasized that the high frequency of feeding traces at the limb joints of numerous specimens and reports of previous studies, indicates that small animals may have targeted the collagen found in the joint cartilage of dried dinosaur carcasses as a source of nitrogen, which was low in the desert-dry conditions of these dinosaur fossils. Based on this reasoning, they excluded Bainoceratops from their phylogenetic analysis. [82], In 2010 David Hone with team reported a new interaction between Velociraptor and Protoceratops based on tooth marks. The triceratops was squat and powerfully built, around the size of an elephant. P. andrewsi had a pair of cylindrical, blunt teeth near the tip of the upper jaw. In birds, a medium-sized sclerotic ring indicates that the animal is a predator, a large sclerotic ring indicates that it is nocturnal, and the largest ring size indicates it is an active nocturnal predator. Protoceratops, meaning "First-Horned Face" is a ceratopsian dinosaur that lived in Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous, 75 million years ago. Dinosaurs Tour expondr Triceratops, Tiranosaurios, Protoceratops, Parasaurolofus, Estegosaurios, Espinosaurio, Diplodocus y el famoso Tiranosaurio Rex a tamao real, entre otros. The holotype skull was found facing upwards, a pose that has been reported in Protoceratops specimens from Tugriken Shireh. He explained that the presence of this Bagaceratops specimen in such unusual locality could be solved by: (1) the coexistence and sympatric (altogether) evolution of both Bagaceratops and Protoceratops at this one locality; (2) the rise of B. rozhdestvenskyi in a different region and eventual migration to Udyn Sayr; (3) hybridization between the two protoceratopsids given the near placement of both Bayan Mandahu and Djadokhta; (4) anagenetic (proggressive evolution) evolutionary transition from P. andrewsi to B. rozhdestvenskyi. Protoceratops was a predecessor of the more familiar horned dinosaurs such as Triceratops. Before their burial, the deathmatch ended up on the ground with the Velociraptor lying on its back right under the Protoceratops. Two other groups were found at the Tugriken Shireh locality; one group containing six individuals and another group of about 12 skeletons. [49], However, in 1975 Maryanska and Osmolska argued that it is very unlikely that protoceratopsids evolved from psittacosaurids, and also unlikely that they gave rise to the highly derived (advanced) ceratopsids. changes in the late part of the Campanian stage. [36], Also from the context of the Polish-Mongolian paleontological expeditions, in 1965 an articulated subadult Protoceratops skeleton (specimen ZPAL Mg D-II/3) was collected from the Bayn Dzak locality of the Djadokhta Formation. The pupae found in this Protoceratops individual were reported as measuring as much a 2.5cm (25mm) long and 1cm (10mm) wide and compare best with pupae attributed to solitary wasps. The Velociraptor has its right leg pinned under the Protoceratops body with its left sickle claw oriented into the throat region. Weighing up to 100 poundsabout the size of a wolf Velociraptors likely hunted solo as they roamed across central and eastern Asia in the late Cretaceous . However, such strategies are most effective when the taxon is rare in the overall environment, opposed to Protoceratops which appears to be an extremely abundant and medium-sized dinosaur. [124], In 1993 the Folklorist and historian of science Adrienne Mayor of Stanford University suggested that the exquisitely preserved fossil skeletons of Protoceratops, Psittacosaurus and other beaked dinosaurs, found by ancient Scythian nomads who mined gold in the Tian Shan and Altai Mountains of Central Asia, may have been at the root of the image of the mythical creature known as the griffin. Dodson found most of these characters to be highly variable across specimens, especially the frill which he interpreted to have had a bigger role in displaying behavior than simply serving as a site of masticatory muscles. The most intimidating parts of the otherwise gentle Protoceratops were its teeth, beak and jaws, which this dinosaur used to clip, tear and chew the tough vegetation of its central Asian habitat. Both hand and feet unguals were flat, blunt and hoof-like. They appear to have cared for their young. Hung Nguyen Architects designed and built the Pavilion of Origins, a greenery-draped structure that uses living plants to purify the air. Preservational bias has been largely ruled out, it is therefore likely that Protoceratops was common in this habitat. [8][32] In the 1960s and early 1970s, many Polish-Mongolian paleontological expeditions were conducted to the Gobi Desert with the objective of fossil findings. From the fourth to the ninth all cervicals were relatively equal in size and proportions. The fact that the individuals likely spend some time in the nest after hatching for growth suggests that Protoceratops parents might have cared for their young at nests during at least the early stages of life. During burial, the animals were most likely not completely restricted in their movements at all, given that the individuals of MPC-D 100/526 are in relatively normal life positions and have not been disturbed. Gregory miu t nm 1923, Protoceratops ban u c cho l t tin ca . Sinoceratops is a very significant centrosaur because not only it is the first ceratopsid to be ever discovered in China, but it is also one of the largest centrosaurines ever discovered. [32], Jack Bowman Bailey in 1997 disagreed with previous aquatic hypotheses and indicated that the high caudal neural spines were instead more reminiscent of bulbous tails of some desert lizard species (such as Heloderma or Uromastyx), which are related to store fat with metabolic water in the tail. [5][39], Protoceratops was in 1923 placed within the newly named family Protoceratopsidae as the representative species by Granger and Gregory. Eye size is an important adaptation in predators and nocturnal animals because a larger eye ratio poses a higher sensitivity and resolution. For instance, the Protoceratops has a semi-erect stance and its skull is nearly horizontal, which could have not been possible if the animal was already dead. The tail was long and had an enigmatic sail-like structure, which may have been used for display, swimming, or metabolic reasons. [7] During the 1960s to 1970s, Polish-Mongolian and Russian-Mongolian paleontological expeditions collected new, partial to complete specimens of Protoceratops at this locality, making this dinosaur species a common occurrence in Tugriken Shireh. He found 19 anatomical differences in the vertebral column and pelvic region of regarded male and female Protoceratops individuals, which he considered to represent actual sexual characters. Coahuilaceratops (meaning "Coahuila horn face") is a genus of ceratopsian dinosaur which lived in what is now Mexico. It is simpler, he argues, to understand the griffin as a mythical combination of well-known extant animal species than as an ancient misunderstanding of fossilized collections of bones. It lived alongside Shantungosaurus, Zhuchengtyrannus, and Zhuchengceratops . The exact size and shape of the frill varied by individual; some had short, compact frills, while others had frills nearly half the length of the skull. He proposed that protoceratopsids moved through water using their laterally-flattened tails as a paddle to aid in swimming. The morphological differences among the Udyn Sayr specimens may indicate intraspecific variation of Protoceratops. Jurassic VR Dinos on Cardboard para PC en el emulador de Android le permitir tener una experiencia mvil ms emocionante en una computadora con Windows. The surangular was near triangular in shape and in old individuals it was coossified together with the coronoid process. Found as fossils in deposits from the Late Cretaceous Period (about 100 million to 65.5 million years ago) of eastern Asia and North America, Oviraptor was about 1.8 metres (6 feet) long and walked on two long, well-developed hind limbs. The co-authors also agreed with Osborn in that Asia, if more explored, could solve many major evolutionary gaps in the fossil record. Furthermore, Coombs considered the large concentration of Protoceratops eggs at small regions as an indicator of marked philopatric nesting (nesting in the same area). [12], Hone and colleagues in 2014 indicated that two assemblages of Protoceratops at Tugriken Shireh (MPC-D 100/526 and 100/534) suggest that individuals died simultaneously, rather than accumulating over time. Protoceratops (/protosrtps/; lit. While Andy and his colleagues were able to show that the frill of Protoceratops likely evolved as a result of social behaviour between members of the species as opposed to, for example, defence, it is difficult to be conclusive that . Behind the eye was a slightly smaller fenestra known as the infratemporal fenestra, formed by the curves of the jugal and squamosal. They also reproduced by laying eggs. The first five cervical ribs (sometimes called chevrons) were some of the shortest ribs, and among them the first two were longer than the rest. It is likely that sediments at Bayan Mandahu were deposited by short-lived rivers and lakes on an alluvial plain (flat land consisting of sediments deposited by highland rivers) with a combination of dune field paleoenvironments, under a semi-arid climate. tops) (/protosrtps/; from Greek proto-/- "first", cerat-/- "horn" and -ops/- "face", meaning "First Horned Face") is a genus of sheep-sized (1.8 m long) herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur, from the Upper Cretaceous Period (Campanian stage) of what is now Mongolia. The holotype (IMM 95BM1/1) and paratype (IMM 96BM1/4) specimens consist of large skulls lacking body remains. The diameter of the feeding traces preserved on a Protoceratops skull from Bayn Dzak was bigger than traces reported among other specimens, indicating that the scavengers responsible for these traces were notoriously different from other trace makers preserved on specimens. The foremost hole, the nares (nostril opening), was oval-shaped and considerably smaller than the nostrils seen in ceratopsids. Handa and team in addition found variation across this Udyn Sayr sample and classified them in three groups. [28] The description of the eggshell of Protoceratopsidovum has further confirmed that they in fact belong to a maniraptoran, possibly deinonychosaur taxon. Protoceratopsidae is a family of basal (primitive) ceratopsians from the Late Cretaceous period. [32], Osmlska in 1993 proposed another two hypotheses in order to explain their preservation. Unlike later ceratopsians, it lacked intense horns. The caudal vertebrae decreased in size progressively towards the end and had very elongated neural spines in the mid-series, forming a sail-like structure. SummaryStats. The tibia (shinbone) was long and slender with a wide lower end. Protoceratops cf. [66], Upon the analysis of the forelimbs of several ceratopsians, Phil Senter in 2007 suggested that the hands of Protoceratops could reach the ground when the hindlimbs were upright, and the overall forelimb morphology and range of motion may reflect that it was at least a facultative (optional) quadruped. [129], AMNH 6418 specimen with possible skin impressions (left), and line diagram of footprint associated with specimen ZPAL Mg D-II/3 (right), Forelimb (top), pelvic (middle), and hindlimb fossil bones (bottom) of specimen ZPAL Mg D-II/3, Fossil cast of the Fighting Dinosaurs specimen (left) and life restoration of same depicting the fight (right), Last edited on 17 February 2023, at 01:55, List of dinosaur specimens with documented taphonomic histories, "Protoceratops andrewsi, a pre-ceratopsian dinosaur from Mongolia", "Three new Theropoda, Protoceratops zone, central Mongolia", "The Structure and Relationships of Protoceratops", "On Protoceratops, a primitive ceratopsian dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia", "Narrative of the Polish-Mongolian Palaeontological Expeditions, 1967-1971", "The Russian-Mongolian expeditions and research in vertebrate palaeontology", "Djadokhta Formation correlative strata in Chinese Inner Mongolia: an overview of the stratigraphy, sedimentary geology, and paleontology and comparisons with the type locality in the pre-Altai Gobi", "A nest of Protoceratops andrewsi (Dinosauria, Ornithischia)", "A New Mass Mortality of Juvenile Protoceratops and Size-Segregated Aggregation Behaviour in Juvenile Non-Avian Dinosaurs", " ", "The fossil record, systematics and evolution of pachycephalosaurs and ceratopsians from Asia", "A Montanoceratops cerorhynchus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) Braincase from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta", "Ontogeny and variation of a protoceratopsid dinosaur Bagaceratops rozhdestvenskyi from the Late Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert", "A new Species of Protoceratops (Dinosauria, Neoceratopsia) from the Late Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia (P. R. China)", "The First Discovery of the Late Cretaceous Protoceratopsid Fauna from Alxa, Inner Mongolia, China", "Bainoceratops efremovi, a New Protoceratopid Dinosaur (Protoceratopidae, Neoceratopsia) from the Bain-Dzak Locality (South Mongolia)", "Yamaceratops dorngobiensis, a New Primitive Ceratopsian (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Cretaceous of Mongolia", 10.1206/0003-0082(2006)3530[1:YDANPC]2.0.CO;2, "A new neoceratopsian dinosaur linking North American and Asian taxa", 10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[625:ANNDLN]2.0.CO;2, "The microstructures of the dinosaurian eggshells of Nanxiong Basin, Guandong province. The ulna was a rather short bone with a straight shape. Most of them had differences in the same exact vertebra, such as the shape and proportions of the vertebral centra and orientation of neural arches. Diabloceratops (/ d a b l o s r t p s / dy-AB-loh-SERR--tops) is an extinct genus of centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur that lived approximately 81.4-81 million years ago during the latter part of the Cretaceous Period in what is now Utah, in the United States. However, as the group could have loss members by predation or other factors, the remnants individuals would aggregate into larger groups to increase their survival. As some individuals are closely appressed along the well-defined margin of the nest, it may have had a circular or semi-circular shapeas previously hypothetizedwith a diameter of 70cm (700mm). They also named the new genus and species of protoceratopsid Bagaceratops rozhdestvenskyi, known from specimens of the nearby Hermiin Tsav locality. The epijugal (tip region of the jugal) was separated from the jugal by a prominent suture; this suture was more noticeable in adults. Triceratops had a big head. [13], Brown and Schlaikjer in 1940 upon their large analysis of Protoceratops noted the potential presence of sexual dimorphism among specimens in P. andrewsi, concluding that this condition could be entirely subjective or represent actual differences between sexes. The white arrow indicates a broken rib, and the black arrows point to pterosaur bones preserved inside the dinosaur's . The specimen hails from the Udyn Sayr locality, where Protoceratops remains are dominant, and given the lack of more conclusive anatomical traits, Czepiski assigned the specimen as Bagaceratops sp. [38] The limb elements of the skeleton of ZPAL Mg D-II/3 were described in 2019 by paleontologists Justyna Sowiak, Victor S. Tereshchenko and ucja Fostowicz-Frelik. Protoceratops is a special dinosaur because they had really large eyes. The team referred these elements to Protoceratops and Velociraptor mainly based on their abundance across the unit, although they admitted that reported remains could represent different, yet related taxa (in this case, Linheraptor instead of Velociraptor). [70], In 2008, based on the occurrence of some Protoceratops specimens in fluvial (river-deposited) sediments from the Djadokhta Formation and heterocoelous (vertebral centra that are saddle-shaped at both ends) caudal vertebrae of protoceratopsids, Tereshchenko concluded that the elevated caudal spines are a swimming adaptation. Additionally, the reported borings have a structure that differs from traces made by dermestid beetles. On the other hand P. hellenikorhinus had a total skull length of about 70cm (700mm). Witton goes on to point out that the wings of traditional griffins are positioned above the shoulder blades, not behind the neck as the frills of Protoceratops, that the bodies of griffins much more closely resemble the bodies of modern big cats than they do those of Protoceratops, and that the gold deposits of central Asia occur hundreds of kilometers from the known Protoceratops fossil remains, among many other inconsistencies.