SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN THE POSTCRANIAL SKELETON OF PROTOCERATOPSIDS (NEOCERATOPSIA, PROTOCERATOPSIDAE) FROM MONGOLIA

Abstract

The study of horned dinosaurs housed at the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences revealed 19 structural parameters of the postcranial skeleton that distinguish males from females. Based on comparisons of age and sexual variation and the analysis of the functional significance of sexual differences, a morphobiological interpretation of sexual dimorphism in protoceratopsids is given.