Diabloceratops
dy-AB-loh-SER-uh-tops
"devil horned face"
- Lived
- 84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ceratopsians, Ceratopsidae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Kirkland and Deblieux 2010
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Habitat
The Wahweap Formation in Utah records rivers crossing a floodplain. Lythronax, Acristavus and Machairoceratops also inhabited this landscape.
Field notes
About Diabloceratops
What it was like
Diabloceratops was a horned plant eater that walked on four legs. Its frill carried a pair of long spikes that curved up and out like horns, which inspired its name. It had a short nose horn and a parrot-like beak for cropping tough plants.
Its world
It lived about 84 to 72 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Utah. Its fossils come from the Wahweap Formation, where it lived with the tyrannosaur Lythronax and the horned Machairoceratops. It is one of the earliest horned dinosaurs of its family.
How it was found
Kirkland and Deblieux named Diabloceratops in 2010, from a single skull.
Field gallery
More views of Diabloceratops
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 Diabloceratops.
The evidence
The science behind Diabloceratops
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- A skull preserves a short, deep face, long horns above the eyes and a frill topped by a pair of curved spikes.
- Large blade-like cheek spines project sideways, and the frill narrows toward its rear spikes.
Borrowed from relatives
- Its four-legged body is restored from related horned dinosaurs such as Centrosaurus and Styracosaurus.
- Scaly skin and the outer horn coverings follow comparisons with other ceratopsids.
Still unknown
- Its exact body proportions.
- The colors of its skin and frill.
- How its horns and frill changed as it grew.
Discovery timeline
- 2010Named itKirkland & Deblieux
- 2013Same rocksLoewen et al.
- 2016Close relativeLund et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Diabloceratops
Named it
Named an early member of the centrosaurine branch from a skull with long brow horns and curved frill spikes.
New basal centrosaurine ceratopsian skulls from the Wahweap Formation (middle Campanian), Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, southern Utah. New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
No link available
Same rocks
Named Lythronax from the Wahweap Formation, documenting a large tyrannosaur in the landscape inhabited by Diabloceratops.
Tyrant Dinosaur Evolution Tracks the Rise and Fall of Late Cretaceous Oceans. PLoS ONE 8: e79420
Read the paper : Tyrant Dinosaur Evolution Tracks the Rise and Fall of Late Cretaceous Oceans (opens in a new tab)Close relative
Described Machairoceratops and compared its brow horns and frill spikes with Diabloceratops, exploring the early branching of centrosaurines.
A New Centrosaurine Ceratopsid, Machairoceratops cronusi gen et sp. nov., from the Upper Sand Member of the Wahweap Formation (Middle Campanian), Southern Utah. PLOS ONE 11: e0154403
Read the paper : A New Centrosaurine Ceratopsid, Machairoceratops cronusi gen et sp. nov., from the Upper Sand Member of the Wahweap Formation (Middle Campanian), Southern Utah (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Ceratopsidae
Sources: Wikidata