Xenoceratops
"alien horned face"
Type species Xenoceratops foremostensis
- Lived
- 84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ceratopsians, Ceratopsidae
- Found in
- Canada
- Named by
- Ryan et al. 2012
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Habitat
It lived on a low coastal plain with wetlands and freshwater channels in what is now Alberta. Thanatotheristes, Saurornitholestes and Colepiocephale are recorded from the Foremost Formation.
Field notes
About Xenoceratops
What it was like
Xenoceratops was a horned plant eater from the centrosaurine group, relatives of Styracosaurus and Centrosaurus. It is known from pieces of the skull, which show large spikes along the top of its frill.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Alberta, Canada. Its bones come from the Foremost Formation, one of the older dinosaur-bearing rock layers in the province. The tyrannosaur Thanatotheristes lived in the same region.
How it was found
Ryan and colleagues named it in 2012 from one find. The type species is Xenoceratops foremostensis, after the formation where it was found.
Field gallery
More views of Xenoceratops
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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 Xenoceratops.
The evidence
The science behind Xenoceratops
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Pieces of the frill come from several adult-sized animals.
- The frill had pointed spikes near its rear corners and thick projections that curved forward nearer the middle.
Borrowed from relatives
- Wendiceratops supplies a model for the missing beak, jaws and much of the body.
- Triceratops supplies a broader horned-dinosaur comparison for the compact, weight-bearing front feet.
Still unknown
- The complete shape of its nose and brow horns.
- The full outline of its frill.
- Its color and how its frill changed during growth.
Discovery timeline
- 2012Named itRyan, Evans & Shepherd
- 2015Close relativeEvans & Ryan
- 2018Same rocksBrown
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Xenoceratops
Named it
Named Xenoceratops from distinctive frill bones belonging to several adult-sized animals.
A new ceratopsid from the Foremost Formation (middle Campanian) of Alberta. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 49: 1251-1262
Read the paper : A new ceratopsid from the Foremost Formation (middle Campanian) of Alberta (opens in a new tab)Close relative
Described Wendiceratops and compared its frill with the thick, forward-curving projections of Xenoceratops.
Cranial Anatomy of Wendiceratops pinhornensis gen. et sp. nov., a Centrosaurine Ceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian), Alberta, Canada, and the Evolution of Ceratopsid Nasal Ornamentation. PLOS ONE 10: e0130007
Read the paper : Cranial Anatomy of Wendiceratops pinhornensis gen. et sp. nov., a Centrosaurine Ceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian), Alberta, Canada, and the Evolution of Ceratopsid Nasal Ornamentation (opens in a new tab)Same rocks
Described isolated long brow horns from the Foremost Formation but left their genus unidentified.
Long-horned Ceratopsidae from the Foremost Formation (Campanian) of southern Alberta. PeerJ 6: e4265
Read the paper : Long-horned Ceratopsidae from the Foremost Formation (Campanian) of southern Alberta (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Ceratopsidae
Sources: Wikidata