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20-549: See text Agathaumas ( / æ ɡ ə ˈ θ ɔː m ə s / ; "great wonder") is a dubious genus of a large ceratopsid dinosaur that lived in Wyoming during the Late Cretaceous (late Maastrichtian stage , 66 million years ago). The name comes from Ancient Greek : αγαν - 'much' and θαυμα - 'wonder'. It is estimated to have been 15 metres (49 ft) long and weighed 17.5 tonnes (17.2 long tons; 19.3 short tons), and

40-492: A nomen dubium if its name-bearing type is fragmentary or lacking important diagnostic features (this is often the case for species known only as fossils). To preserve stability of names, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature allows a new type specimen, or neotype, to be chosen for a nomen dubium in this case. 75.5. Replacement of unidentifiable name-bearing type by a neotype. When an author considers that

60-598: A synonym of Triceratops , but is difficult to compare to that genus because it is only known from postcranial remains. The holotype remains of Agathaumas were first found in 1872 in southwestern Wyoming . They were discovered by Fielding Bradford Meek and Henry Martyn Bannister while they were looking for fossil shells in the Lance Formation near the Black Butte and Bitter Creek . Meek and Bannister were employed by Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden 's Geological Survey of

80-591: Is a dubious taxon and cannot be referred beyond Ceratopsidae. based on stratigraphy it is likely a member of Triceratopsini. In 1897, paleoartist Charles R. Knight painted "Agathaumas sphenocerus" for an article in The Century Magazine under the supervision of Edward Drinker Cope . The nasal horn and brow horns were based on "Monoclonius" sphenocerus (possible synonym of Centrosaurus apertus ) and "Monoclonius" recurvicornis (unnamed genus similar to Einiosaurus ) respectively, which were found in

100-543: Is of more frequent use. Such names may be proposed for rejection . Claorhynchus Claorhynchus (meaning "broken beak ", as it is based on broken bones from the snout region) is a dubious genus of cerapodan dinosaur with a confusing history behind it. It has been considered to be both a hadrosaurid and a ceratopsid , sometimes the same as Triceratops , with two different assignments as to discovery formation and location, and what bones make up its type remains . The holotype specimen, AMNH 3978,

120-528: The Judith River Formation in Montana and named by Cope in 1889. The rest of the skull and body were based on an 1891 skeletal reconstruction of Triceratops prorsus by Othniel Charles Marsh . The armor was based on isolated elements from the Lance Formation in Wyoming that Marsh erroneously referred to Triceratops in 1891: the spines on the frill were a Denversaurus schlessmani cervical spine,

140-472: The 1900s and 1930s, all of the members of Agathaumidae were found to be dubious, and the family name Ceratopsidae was preferred over Agathaumidae. Agathaumas itself was found to be a dubious Ceratopsid by Hatcher and Lull, as well as by John Ostrom and Peter Wellnhofer who placed it as Triceratops sp. Type: Species previously referred to Agathaumas : Unfortunately, due to the fragmentary nature of Agathaumas sylvestris ’ holotype specimen, Agathaumas

160-430: The 1925 film The Lost World . Nomen dubium In case of a nomen dubium, it may be impossible to determine whether a specimen belongs to that group or not. This may happen if the original type series (i. e. holotype , isotype , syntype or paratype ) is lost or destroyed. The zoological and botanical codes allow for a new type specimen, or neotype , to be chosen in this case. A name may also be considered

180-475: The Territories and notified paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope of the find. Cope himself searched the ridge near Black Butte and re-discovered Meek's site, finding huge bones protruding from the rocks near a coal vein. The bones were preserved in sand and clay sediments, packed with fossil sticks and leaves, indicating a heavily forested habitat. Cope later (in 1873) described the skeleton as "the wreck of one of

200-513: The corresponding elements of Hadrosaurus and Dryptosaurus ( Laelaps ). In 1882, Othniel Charles Marsh , Cope's rival in the Bone Wars, suggested that Agathaumas , along with Cionodon , another Cope taxon, was a Hadrosaurid. In 1883, with his description of the skull of Edmontosaurus ( Diclonius ), Cope also suggested that his taxa Agathaumas , Monoclonius , and Dysganus could be Hadrosaurids. Cope did not assign Agathaumas into

220-456: The genus as a dubious type of hadrosaurid, based on premaxillae and a predentary . This opinion stood until the work of Michael K. Brett-Surman , who stated in his dissertation that, having rediscovered and reexamined the material with Douglas A. Lawson, it was most likely part of a ceratopsid's neck frill , probably part of the squamosal of Triceratops . This information reached Donald F. Glut 's series of dinosaur encyclopedias in

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240-673: The group now recognized as Ceratopsia until later in 1889, when Cope recognized that his genera Monoclonius and Polyonax were related due to Marsh's description of Triceratops fossils. Marsh had already named a group for the horned dinosaurs, Ceratopsidae, but Cope did not recognize this family name as he believed Ceratops could not be distinguished from other taxa; Cope erected a new name, Agathaumidae. Cope later named 2 more "Agathaumids", Manospondylus gigas and Claorhynchus trihedrus , based on fragmentary fossils in 1892, expanding his group to 5 genera. After reassessment by John Bell Hatcher , Richard Swann Lull , and Nelda Wright in

260-553: The original type specimen with the proposed neotype. In bacteriological nomenclature , nomina dubia may be placed on the list of rejected names by the Judicial Commission. The meaning of these names is uncertain. Other categories of names that may be treated in this way (rule 56a) are: In botanical nomenclature the phrase nomen dubium has no status, although it is informally used for names whose application has become confusing. In this regard, its synonym nomen ambiguum

280-471: The princes among giants." Cope and his team eventually recovered complete hip bones, sacral vertebrae, and several ribs from the animal. Later in 1872, Cope published a description and name for the animal, Agathaumas sylvestris , or "marvelous forest-dweller," in reference to its great size and the environment revealed in the same rocks as its bones. The name Agathaumas has been cited as an example of Cope's excitement with this discovery, which he considered, at

300-412: The scutes on the flank were indeterminate ankylosaurian osteoderms (either Denversaurus or Ankylosaurus magniventris ), and the spikes on the back were a Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis squamosal horn. The name Agathaumas was arbitrarily used for Knight's depiction and no parts were based on A. sylvestris . His painting inspired a stop motion model created by Marcel Delgado that appeared in

320-494: The taxonomic identity of a nominal species-group taxon cannot be determined from its existing name-bearing type (i.e. its name is a nomen dubium ), and stability or universality are threatened thereby, the author may request the Commission to set aside under its plenary power [Art. 81] the existing name-bearing type and designate a neotype. For example, the crocodile -like archosaurian reptile Parasuchus hislopi Lydekker , 1885

340-567: The time, as the largest known land animal that had ever lived. Several years later, with the discovery of the giant sauropod dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation , it became clear to him that British forms such as Cetiosaurus and Pelorosaurus were land animals. Cope originally did not know to what group Agathaumas belonged, though he noted that some of the remains were similar to the British reptile Cetiosaurus and very different from

360-422: Was described based on a premaxillary rostrum (part of the snout), but this is no longer sufficient to distinguish Parasuchus from its close relatives. This made the name Parasuchus hislopi a nomen dubium . In 2001 a paleontologist proposed that a new type specimen, a complete skeleton, be designated. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature considered the case and agreed in 2003 to replace

380-499: Was described by paleontologist and naturalist Edward Drinker Cope , who interpreted it as the rostral bone and predentary of an "agathaumid" ( ceratopsid ) dinosaur, which he said came from the Laramie Formation of Colorado . It was soon thought to be a hadrosaurid, though. In 1904, Franz Baron Nopcsa reclassified it as a ceratopsid. In their influential monograph , Richard Swann Lull and Nelda E. Wright regarded

400-415: Was seen as the largest land animal known at the time of its discovery. It was the first ceratopsian known to science from more than teeth, though relatively little is known about it. The original specimen consisted only of the animal's hip bones, hip vertebrae and ribs, and because these bones vary little between ceratopsid species, it is usually considered a nomen dubium . It is provisionally considered

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