Agujaceratops
"Aguja horned face"
Type species Agujaceratops mariscalensis
- Lived
- 84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ceratopsians, Ceratopsidae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Lucas et al. 2006
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Also reported from Mexico.
Habitat
Coastal floodplains and swamps in the Aguja Formation were home to Kritosaurus, Panoplosaurus and Saurornitholestes.
Field notes
About Agujaceratops
What it was like
Agujaceratops was a horned dinosaur related to Chasmosaurus, with a long, broad frill and horns over its eyes. Its brow horns were fairly short.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Texas. It comes from the Aguja Formation, a coastal land of swamps shared with the duckbill Kritosaurus and the armored Panoplosaurus. Fossils that may belong to it are also reported from Mexico.
How it was found
Lucas and colleagues named Agujaceratops in 2006, from fossils first placed in Chasmosaurus. The type species is Agujaceratops mariscalensis. A bone bed holds the remains of several animals.
Field gallery
More views of Agujaceratops
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Agujaceratops.
The evidence
The science behind Agujaceratops
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Skulls show a broad frill with rounded sides and large bony ornaments along its edge.
- A more complete frill has large, horn-like spikes at its rear corners.
- A bone bed preserves skull and body bones from young animals and adults.
Borrowed from relatives
- Restorations use Chasmosaurus and other close relatives to fill gaps between the preserved bones.
Still unknown
- Its skin color and pattern.
- Whether the animals in the bone bed lived in a herd.
- Which species the youngest skulls belong to.
Discovery timeline
- 1993SkullForster et al.
- 2006Named itLucas, Sullivan & Hunt
- 2016New findLehman, Wick & Barnes
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Agujaceratops
Skull
Described a nearly complete skull that clarified the shape of the snout, brow horns and frill.
A complete skull of Chasmosaurus mariscalensis (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) from the Aguja Formation (late Campanian) of West Texas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 13: 161-170
Read the paper : A complete skull of Chasmosaurus mariscalensis (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) from the Aguja Formation (late Campanian) of West Texas (opens in a new tab)Named it
Separated the horned dinosaur from Chasmosaurus and gave it the name Agujaceratops.
Re-evaluation of Pentaceratops and Chasmosaurus (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae) in the Upper Cretaceous of the Western Interior. Late Cretaceous Vertebrates from the Western Interior. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 35: 367-370
No link available
New find
Named another species and described a juvenile skull and a frill with large spikes at its rear corners.
New specimens of horned dinosaurs from the Aguja Formation of West Texas, and a revision ofAgujaceratops. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 15: 641-674
Read the paper : New specimens of horned dinosaurs from the Aguja Formation of West Texas, and a revision ofAgujaceratops (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Ceratopsidae
Sources: Wikidata