Montanoceratops

Montanoceratops Temporal range: 70 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Fossil specimen, Royal Tyrrell Museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Family:	†
Genus:	†Montanoceratops Sternberg, 1951
Species:	†M. cerorhynchos
Binomial name
Montanoceratops cerorhynchos (Brown & Schlaikjer, 1942)

Montanoceratops /mɒnˌtænoʊˈsɛrətɒps/ is an extinct genus of small ceratopsian dinosaur that lived approximately 70 million years ago during the latter part of the Cretaceous Period in what is now Montana and Alberta. Montanoceratops was a small sized, moderately-built, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivore, that could grow up to an estimated 3 m (9.8 ft) long. The ceratopsians were a group of dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks which fed on vegetation and thrived in North America and Asia during the Cretaceous Period, which ended approximately 66 million years ago, at which point they all became extinct.

Montanoceratops was a typical primitive ceratopsian in many respects, distinguished from the later species by the presence of claws, rather than hooves, and by having teeth in its upper jaw, rather than a toothless beak. It was once thought to have a horn on its nose but that was a misplaced cheek horn.

A diagnosis is a statement of the anatomical features of an organism (or group) that collectively distinguish it from all other organisms. Some, but not all, of the features in a diagnosis are also autapomorphies. An autapomorphy is a distinctive anatomical feature that is unique to a given organism.