Leptoceratops
LEP-toe-SER-a-tops
"slender horned face"
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 3 m (10 ft)
- Group
- Ceratopsians, Leptoceratopsidae
- Found in
- United States and Canada
- Named by
- Brown 1914
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical ceratopsian shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Habitat
It lived on river plains in western North America. Dinosaurs from the same formations include Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops and Ankylosaurus.
Field notes
About Leptoceratops
What it was like
Leptoceratops was a small horned dinosaur about 3 meters (10 feet) long. It had a parrot-like beak, a short frill and no real horns. Its teeth were built for chopping tough plants.
It could probably walk on four legs and rise onto two when it needed speed.
Its world
It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, at the very end of the Cretaceous, in western North America. Its fossils come from Alberta, Montana and Wyoming. It shared its world with Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus and the small plant eater Thescelosaurus. It was a late survivor of an old, simple kind of horned dinosaur.
How it was found
Brown named Leptoceratops in 1914. Later finds include several fairly complete skeletons, so it is one of the better known small horned dinosaurs.
Field gallery
More views of Leptoceratops
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 Leptoceratops.
The evidence
The science behind Leptoceratops
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Several well-preserved skeletons show a large head, short frill and sturdy limbs.
- The skull has a strong beak and lacks the large facial horns of Triceratops.
- Curved scratches on its teeth show that its lower jaw moved in a looping path as it chewed.
Borrowed from relatives
- Almost the whole skeleton is known from its own bones, so little of its body shape needs to be borrowed from relatives.
- The outer skin is restored by comparison with other ceratopsians such as Triceratops.
Still unknown
- Its color and detailed skin pattern.
- Exactly which plants it preferred to eat.
- Whether it cared for its young.
Discovery timeline
- 1914Named itBrown
- 1970PostureRussell
- 2016How it fedVarriale
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Leptoceratops
Named it
Named a small ceratopsian from partial skull and skeleton remains found in Alberta.
Leptoceratops, a new genus of Ceratopsia from the Edmonton Cretaceous of Alberta. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 33: 567-580
No link available
Posture
Reconstructed the skeleton of Leptoceratops and examined how its backbone differed from those of other small ceratopsians.
A skeletal reconstruction of Leptoceratops gracilis from the upper Edmonton Formation (Cretaceous) of Alberta. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 7: 181-184
Read the paper : A skeletal reconstruction of Leptoceratops gracilis from the upper Edmonton Formation (Cretaceous) of Alberta (opens in a new tab)How it fed
Found curved scratches on the teeth, revealing a looping jaw motion that processed food more thoroughly than a simple chopping bite.
Dental microwear reveals mammal-like chewing in the neoceratopsian dinosaur Leptoceratops gracilis. PeerJ 4: e2132
Read the paper : Dental microwear reveals mammal-like chewing in the neoceratopsian dinosaur Leptoceratops gracilis (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Leptoceratopsidae
Sources: Wikidata