Outline: a typical ceratopsian
Archaeoceratops
"ancient horned face"
- Lived
- 121 to 110 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 1.3 m (4 ft)
- Group
- Ceratopsians
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Dong and Azuma 1997
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical ceratopsian shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
115 million years ago
Field notes
About Archaeoceratops
What it was like
Archaeoceratops was a small, early horned dinosaur about 1.3 meters (4 feet) long. It had a large head, a small frill and no horns, and it may have walked on two legs.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now China. It shared its world with the parrot-beaked Psittacosaurus, the therizinosaur Suzhousaurus and the early tyrannosaur Xiongguanlong.
How it was found
Dong and Azuma named Archaeoceratops in 1997. It is an early member of the line that led to Triceratops.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Neoceratopsia
Sources: WikidataNamed in: Z. Dong and Y. Azuma. 1997. On a primitive neoceratopsian from the Early Cretaceous of China. Sino-Japanese Silk Road Dinosaur Expedition. China Ocean Press, Beijing