Basal ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) teeth from the Prince Creek Formation (early Maastrichtian) of Alaska
A diverse and prolific record of polar dinosaurs comes from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) sediments of the Prince Creek Formation exposed on Alaska’s North Slope. Previous assignment of basal ornithopod material from this formation has been based solely on teeth, which have either b...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/e11-017 2024-06-23T07:55:25+00:00 Basal ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) teeth from the Prince Creek Formation (early Maastrichtian) of Alaska Brown, Caleb Marshall Druckenmiller, Patrick Sues, Hans-Dieter 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e11-017 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/e11-017 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e11-017 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences volume 48, issue 9, page 1342-1354 ISSN 0008-4077 1480-3313 journal-article 2011 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/e11-017 2024-05-30T08:13:49Z A diverse and prolific record of polar dinosaurs comes from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) sediments of the Prince Creek Formation exposed on Alaska’s North Slope. Previous assignment of basal ornithopod material from this formation has been based solely on teeth, which have either been referred to “hypsilophodontid” indet. or Thescelosaurus sp. Here, we re-examine this material and describe several new specimens, including five isolated premaxillary teeth and three cheek teeth. The premaxillary teeth are most similar to those of Thescelosaurus , whereas the cheek teeth are more similar to its sister taxon Parksosaurus , for which premaxillary teeth are unknown. Referral of this new material to Thescelosaurus would represent the oldest occurrence of this taxon and considerably extend its stratigraphic range. A more likely possibility is that the premaxillary teeth are referable to Parksosaurus, an interpretation that is more parsimonious from a stratigraphic perspective. Intriguingly, one cheek tooth previously referred to as “hypsilophodontid” cannot be referred to either Thescelosaurus or Parksosaurus. Previously, faunal comparisons of the Prince Creek Formation have largely been made with non-contemporaneous formations, including the Campanian-aged Judith River and Aguja formations, or to the latest Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation. On the basis of age and faunal similarities, a more appropriate comparison should be made with coeval rocks of the Horseshoe Canyon. This study expands our knowledge of Cretaceous ornithischian diversity at polar paleolatitudes and underscores the importance of small, rare, or easily misidentified fossils in paleoecological studies. Article in Journal/Newspaper north slope Alaska Canadian Science Publishing Aguja ENVELOPE(-60.167,-60.167,-62.717,-62.717) Prince Creek ENVELOPE(-38.067,-38.067,-54.017,-54.017) Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 48 9 1342 1354 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
A diverse and prolific record of polar dinosaurs comes from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) sediments of the Prince Creek Formation exposed on Alaska’s North Slope. Previous assignment of basal ornithopod material from this formation has been based solely on teeth, which have either been referred to “hypsilophodontid” indet. or Thescelosaurus sp. Here, we re-examine this material and describe several new specimens, including five isolated premaxillary teeth and three cheek teeth. The premaxillary teeth are most similar to those of Thescelosaurus , whereas the cheek teeth are more similar to its sister taxon Parksosaurus , for which premaxillary teeth are unknown. Referral of this new material to Thescelosaurus would represent the oldest occurrence of this taxon and considerably extend its stratigraphic range. A more likely possibility is that the premaxillary teeth are referable to Parksosaurus, an interpretation that is more parsimonious from a stratigraphic perspective. Intriguingly, one cheek tooth previously referred to as “hypsilophodontid” cannot be referred to either Thescelosaurus or Parksosaurus. Previously, faunal comparisons of the Prince Creek Formation have largely been made with non-contemporaneous formations, including the Campanian-aged Judith River and Aguja formations, or to the latest Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation. On the basis of age and faunal similarities, a more appropriate comparison should be made with coeval rocks of the Horseshoe Canyon. This study expands our knowledge of Cretaceous ornithischian diversity at polar paleolatitudes and underscores the importance of small, rare, or easily misidentified fossils in paleoecological studies. |
author2 |
Sues, Hans-Dieter |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brown, Caleb Marshall Druckenmiller, Patrick |
spellingShingle |
Brown, Caleb Marshall Druckenmiller, Patrick Basal ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) teeth from the Prince Creek Formation (early Maastrichtian) of Alaska |
author_facet |
Brown, Caleb Marshall Druckenmiller, Patrick |
author_sort |
Brown, Caleb Marshall |
title |
Basal ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) teeth from the Prince Creek Formation (early Maastrichtian) of Alaska |
title_short |
Basal ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) teeth from the Prince Creek Formation (early Maastrichtian) of Alaska |
title_full |
Basal ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) teeth from the Prince Creek Formation (early Maastrichtian) of Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Basal ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) teeth from the Prince Creek Formation (early Maastrichtian) of Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Basal ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) teeth from the Prince Creek Formation (early Maastrichtian) of Alaska |
title_sort |
basal ornithopod (dinosauria: ornithischia) teeth from the prince creek formation (early maastrichtian) of alaska |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e11-017 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/e11-017 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e11-017 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-60.167,-60.167,-62.717,-62.717) ENVELOPE(-38.067,-38.067,-54.017,-54.017) |
geographic |
Aguja Prince Creek |
geographic_facet |
Aguja Prince Creek |
genre |
north slope Alaska |
genre_facet |
north slope Alaska |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences volume 48, issue 9, page 1342-1354 ISSN 0008-4077 1480-3313 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/e11-017 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |
container_volume |
48 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
1342 |
op_container_end_page |
1354 |
_version_ |
1802648025707839488 |