Everything about Agathaumas totally explained
Agathaumas ("great wonder") is a name given to the remains of a large
ceratopsid that lived in
Wyoming during the
Late Cretaceous (
Maastrichtian stage, around 65-70 million years ago). The name comes from
Greek,
αγαν - 'much' and
θαυμα - 'wonder'. It is important because it was the first ceratopsian whose remains were found and described by a
paleontologist. Relatively little is known about the species because the only fossils found were of the back half of the dinosaur. It is considered a
nomen dubium and debate exists to what
Agathaumas is, most arguing that
Agathaumas is simply a mislabeled
Triceratops or
Torosaurus.
History
Agathaumas was found in 1872 in southwestern Wyoming by F. B. Meek, who notified
Edward Drinker Cope of the find. Cope himself participated in the dig, eventually recovering most of the back half of the animal, excluding the legs. Since these were the first ceratopsian remains found, Cope was uncertain as to precisely what sort of dinosaur
Agathaumas was (although he recognized it as being something new) until
O. C. Marsh described
Triceratops in
1889.
In a 1889 paper, Cope suggested that Marsh's Ceratopsidae be renamed Agathaumidae, because of the paucity of
Ceratops remains.
Species
Type:
- Agathaumas (Triceratops) sylvestris Cope, 1872; 16 vertebrae from the tail, sacrum and back, a partial pelvis and several ribs
Other Species:
- A. flabellatus (Marsh, 1889/Scott, 1900); included with Triceratops horridus.
- A. milo (Cope, 1874); included with Thespesius occidentalis.
- A. monoclonius (Breihaupt, 1994); nomen dubium included with Monoclonius sphenocerus.
- A. mortuarius (Cope, 1874/Hay, 1902); nomen dubium included with Triceratops horridus.
- A. prorsus (Marsh, 1890/Lydekker, 1893); included with Triceratops prorsus.
- A. sphenocerus (Cope, 1890); nomen dubium included with Monoclonius sphenocerus.
Unfortunately, the bones of the rear half of the animal found are not particularly diagnostic in ceratopsians and
Agathaumas remains a nomen dubium. No other remains have been found in the area, but based on its size and age of the rocks, it probably was a
Triceratops or
Torosaurus.
Knight's Restoration
In 1897,
artist Charles R. Knight painted
Agathaumas for Cope, creating an imposing beast which blended the long facial horns of
Triceratops with the spiked frill of the
Styracosaurus. The artwork was seen years later by
stop-motion animator Willis O'Brien, who used the
Agathaumas in the
1925 film
The Lost World. The
Agathaumas has appeared in various forms since then.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Agathaumas'.
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