.81" Partially Rooted Fossil Ceratopsian Dinosaur Tooth - Montana

Partially Rooted Fossil Ceratopsian Dinosaur Tooth - Montana #173449

This is a beautiful fossil Ceratopsian dinosaur tooth, collected from the Late Cretaceous age Judith River Formation in Montana. It's .81" long, has a partial root and doesn't have the flat surface from feeding wear that's found on the vast majority of the Ceratopsian teeth. This tooth has no crack repairs and no restoration. It comes in an acrylic display case.

Within the Judith River Group there are multiple Ceratopsid genera and species, so with just a single bone or tooth they are hard to differentiate and give a definitive identification. However, based on the features of this tooth that are present, it's likely that the genus is either Chasmosaurus or Centrosaurus.

Ceratopsians are a group of plant-eating dinosaurs from the Cretaceous characterized by a bony frill on the back of the skull and a unique upper beak bone, called a rostral. Ceratopsians ranged in size from 1 meter (3 ft) and 23 kilograms (50 lb) to over 9 meters (30 ft) and 9,100 kg (20,100 lb). Triceratops is by far the best-known ceratopsian to the general public.

The Judith River Formation is one of the world's most prolific sources of Late Cretaceous vertebrate fossils. At least sixteen Orders containing more than forty Genera are known from the formation. These include fish, amphibians, mammals, and insects in addition to reptiles and avian (birds) and non-avian dinosaurs. Among the more interesting specimens is Leonardo, a mummified and fossilized Brachylophosaurus. This is a hadrosaur, a duck-billed dinosaur found with amazing soft-tissue preservation: skin impressions can be found on 90 percent of its body! The pattern in the skin on its feet is even preserved. In addition to Leonardo, the Judith River Formation contains the remains of the theropod Hesperornis, the only known freshwater Hespernorthid, a penguin-like bird.

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