Bisticeratops
"Bisti horned face"
Type species Bisticeratops froeseorum
- Lived
- 84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ceratopsians, Ceratopsidae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Dalman et al. 2022
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Habitat
Forests and swamps near the coast in what is now New Mexico. Other dinosaurs from the Kirtland Formation include Bistahieversor, Parasaurolophus and Pentaceratops.
Field notes
About Bisticeratops
What it was like
Bisticeratops was a horned plant eater from the chasmosaurine group, relatives of Pentaceratops. It is known from a nearly complete skull with a long frill. The skull shows bite marks, perhaps from a tyrannosaur.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now New Mexico. Its bones come from the Kirtland Formation, a land of rivers and swamps shared with the tyrannosaur Bistahieversor, the crested Parasaurolophus and the horned Pentaceratops.
How it was found
Dalman and colleagues named it in 2022. The type species is Bisticeratops froeseorum. Its name comes from the badlands where it was found.
Field gallery
More views of Bisticeratops
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 3
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 Bisticeratops.
The evidence
The science behind Bisticeratops
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The type skull preserves much of the face and part of the frill.
- The skull carries bite marks, possibly made by a tyrannosaur.
- A cast of the original right brow horn shows that it curved forward; the skull also preserves a nasal horn.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing lower jaw is compared with preserved jaw bones of Chasmosaurus.
- The trunk and forearms are compared with Vagaceratops, and the hands with Triceratops.
- The missing rear of the frill is compared with Chasmosaurus and Pentaceratops.
Still unknown
- Which predator left the bite marks.
- Whether the bites came from an attack or scavenging.
- The complete shape of its frill and lower jaw, its body proportions and its skin color.
Discovery timeline
- 2010Same rocksCarr & Williamson
- 2022Named itDalman, Jasinski & Lucas
- 2022Family treeDalman et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Bisticeratops
Same rocks
Described Bistahieversor, a deep-snouted predator from the same formation as Bisticeratops.
Bistahieversor sealeyi, gen. et sp. nov., a new tyrannosauroid from New Mexico and the origin of deep snouts in Tyrannosauroidea. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30: 1-16
Read the paper : Bistahieversor sealeyi, gen. et sp. nov., a new tyrannosauroid from New Mexico and the origin of deep snouts in Tyrannosauroidea (opens in a new tab)Named it
Named Bisticeratops from a nearly complete skull, adding another horned dinosaur to the fauna of New Mexico.
A new chasmosaurine ceratopsid from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Farmington Member of the Kirtland Formation, New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 90: 127-153
No link available
Family tree
Described Sierraceratops and supported the idea that southern Laramidia had its own distinctive horned dinosaurs.
Sierraceratops turneri, a new chasmosaurine ceratopsid from the Hall Lake Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of south-central New Mexico. Cretaceous Research 130: 105034
Read the paper : Sierraceratops turneri, a new chasmosaurine ceratopsid from the Hall Lake Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of south-central New Mexico (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Ceratopsidae
Sources: Wikidata