Vagaceratops
"wandering horned face"
- Lived
- 84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ceratopsians, Ceratopsidae
- Found in
- Canada and United States
- Named by
- Sampson 2010
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Habitat
It inhabited the river floodplains of the Dinosaur Park Formation near the Western Interior Seaway. Other dinosaurs in these rocks include Corythosaurus, Euoplocephalus and Gorgosaurus.
Field notes
About Vagaceratops
What it was like
Vagaceratops was a horned dinosaur with a broad, short frill and a row of forward-curling hooks along its top edge. Its brow horns were small.
It is a close relative of Kosmoceratops from farther south, which had a very similar frill. Some scientists think it is instead a species of Chasmosaurus.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Alberta, Canada, with a find reported from Montana. Its bones come from the Dinosaur Park Formation, where it shared the land with the horned Centrosaurus, the armored Euoplocephalus, the crested Corythosaurus and the tyrannosaurs Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus.
How it was found
Sampson named Vagaceratops in 2010 for a skull that had been described as a species of Chasmosaurus. The name reflects the idea that its ancestors wandered between north and south.
Field gallery
More views of Vagaceratops
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 Vagaceratops.
The evidence
The science behind Vagaceratops
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Skulls show a short, broad frill with flattened hooks curling forward along its rear edge.
- An articulated skeleton preserves much of the backbone and limbs.
- The hand and backbone of that skeleton show abnormal bone growth.
Borrowed from relatives
- Much of its body is known from its own bones; missing parts of the tail and limbs are restored by comparison with other horned dinosaurs such as Chasmosaurus.
Still unknown
- Whether it belongs in Chasmosaurus or deserves its own genus.
- The colors of its skin and frill.
- How its frill changed during early growth.
Discovery timeline
- 2010Named it
- 2014Full descriptionHolmes
- 2019Family treeCampbell et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Vagaceratops
Full description
Described the body skeleton, including the limbs and backbone, and documented abnormal bone growth in the hand and spine.
The postcranial skeleton of Vagaceratops irvinensis (Dinosauria, Ceratopsidae). Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology 1: 1-21
Read the paper : The postcranial skeleton of Vagaceratops irvinensis (Dinosauria, Ceratopsidae) (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Compared additional skulls and recovered Vagaceratops as a species of Chasmosaurus, questioning its separate genus.
Temporal range extension and evolution of the chasmosaurine ceratopsid ‘Vagaceratops’ irvinensis (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta. Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology 7: 83-100
Read the paper : Temporal range extension and evolution of the chasmosaurine ceratopsid ‘Vagaceratops’ irvinensis (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Ceratopsidae
Sources: Wikidata