Pentaceratops
PEN-tuh-SER-uh-tops
"five-horned face"
- Lived
- 84 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 6.8 m (22 ft)
- Group
- Ceratopsians, Ceratopsidae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Osborn 1923
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical ceratopsian shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
75 million years ago
Habitat
Rivers, floodplains and wet lowlands in New Mexico supported ferns, conifers and palms. Other dinosaurs included Parasaurolophus, Kritosaurus and Bistahieversor.
Field notes
About Pentaceratops
What it was like
Pentaceratops was a horned plant eater about 6.8 meters (22 feet) long, with one of the largest skulls of any land animal. It had two long brow horns, a short nose horn and a huge frill edged with small points.
Its name means five-horned face. The extra two horns are really pointed cheekbones, one under each eye.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous, mostly in what is now New Mexico, with some remains from Colorado. Its fossils come from the Kirtland and Fruitland formations, where it lived with the duck-bills Parasaurolophus and Kritosaurus, the dome-headed Stegoceras, and the tyrannosaur Bistahieversor.
How it was found
Osborn named Pentaceratops in 1923. Eight finds are known, including several skulls, so its anatomy is well understood.
Field gallery
More views of Pentaceratops
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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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 Pentaceratops.
The evidence
The science behind Pentaceratops
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Skulls preserve long brow horns, a nose horn and pointed cheek bones below the eyes.
- The tall frill has large openings and a deep notch in its rear edge.
- Additional skulls show variation in the shape of the horns and frill.
Borrowed from relatives
- Missing parts of the body are restored by comparison with Chasmosaurus and other long-frilled horned dinosaurs.
Still unknown
- Its skin colors and patterns.
- How its horns and frill changed during early growth.
- Whether every skull assigned to it belongs to the same species.
Discovery timeline
- 1923Named itOsborn
- 1993SkullLehman
- 2020Family treeFowler & Freedman Fowler
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Pentaceratops
Named it
Named Pentaceratops from a skull with long brow horns and pointed cheek bones found in New Mexico.
A new genus and species of Ceratopsia from New Mexico, Pentaceratops sternbergii. American Museum Novitates 93: 1-3
No link available
Skull
Described additional skull pieces, including upturned points beside the frill's rear notch, and documented variation within the species.
New data on the ceratopsian dinosaurPentaceratops sternbergiiOsborn from New Mexico. Journal of Paleontology 67: 279-288
Read the paper : New data on the ceratopsian dinosaurPentaceratops sternbergiiOsborn from New Mexico (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Named Navajoceratops and Terminocavus and proposed a lineage linking Pentaceratops with Anchiceratops through gradual changes in the frill.
Transitional evolutionary forms in chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaurs: evidence from the Campanian of New Mexico. PeerJ 8: e9251
Read the paper : Transitional evolutionary forms in chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaurs: evidence from the Campanian of New Mexico (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Ceratopsidae
Sources: Wikidata