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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 26, 2026

A Whole Mount In Situ Hybridization Method for the Gastropod Mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis

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Published on: March 15, 2016

'Nedoceratops': an example of a transitional morphology.

John B Scannella¹, John R Horner

¹Museum of the Rockies and Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, United States of America. jscannella@gmail.com

|December 24, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

The dinosaur Nedoceratops hatcheri is not a distinct genus but rather an ontogenetic stage of Triceratops. This finding reclassifies Nedoceratops and Torosaurus as part of Triceratops' growth cycle.

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Area of Science:

Paleontology
Vertebrate Zoology
Systematic Biology

Background:

The taxonomic status of Nedoceratops hatcheri, a chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur, has been debated since its discovery.
It has been alternatively classified as a distinct genus or synonymous with Triceratops.
Recent discussions centered on whether Nedoceratops represents an ontogenetic stage linking young Triceratops to the mature morphology previously assigned to Torosaurus.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the taxonomic status of Nedoceratops hatcheri.
To determine if Nedoceratops represents a distinct genus or an ontogenetic variant of Triceratops.
To clarify the systematic relationships among Nedoceratops, Triceratops, and Torosaurus.

Main Methods:

Comparative osteology of the holotype specimen of Nedoceratops hatcheri with other chasmosaurine ceratopsids.
Osteohistological analysis of bone surface texture and frill morphology.
Examination of proposed diagnostic features and autapomorphies of Nedoceratops.

Main Results:

All proposed autapomorphies of Nedoceratops are present in Triceratops specimens, including the adult Torosaurus morphology.
The features of Nedoceratops are consistent with an ontogenetic transition in frill development.
Comparative osteology and osteohistology support the synonymy of Nedoceratops and Torosaurus with Triceratops.

Conclusions:

The morphologies of Triceratops, Torosaurus, and Nedoceratops represent ontogenetic variations within the single genus Triceratops.
This study underscores the impact of assigning taxonomic significance to ontogenetic and intraspecific variation in dinosaur paleobiology and systematics.
Nedoceratops hatcheri is herein considered a junior synonym of Triceratops.