Ceratopsia
Herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs with horns and frills.
Ceratopsia, also known as Ceratopia, is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Asia, and Europe during the Cretaceous Period, with ancestral forms living earlier in the Late Jurassic of Asia. They are characterized by features of the skull, including a unique rostral bone on the upper jaw that forms a parrot-like beak, prominent jugal bones, and in later members, elaborate facial horns and neck frills. The group includes the well-known Triceratops, and its name is derived from Greek words meaning 'horned faces.'
- Last known species
- Triceratops prorsus, became extinct 66 million years ago
- Time period
- Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous
- Geographic range
- North America, Asia, Europe
- Distinctive feature
- Rostral bone, an edentulous ossification unique to ceratopsians
Lore & Background
The first ceratopsian remains known to science were discovered during U.S. Geological and Geographical Surveys led by geologist F.V. Hayden. Cope later named Monoclonius, which provided the first evidence of ceratopsid horns and frills, though he initially misinterpreted the frill bone as part of the breastbone.
Reader's Guide
The group is defined in clade-based taxonomy as the largest clade containing Ceratops montanus and Triceratops horridus but not Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis. Early members like Psittacosaurus were small bipeds, while later ceratopsids became large quadrupeds with horns and frills. The frills may have served for protection, display, thermoregulation, or muscle attachment. Epoccipital bones surrounded the frills of ceratopsids and were ornamental, differing between short-frilled centrosaurines and long-frilled chasmosaurines. The name Ceratopsia is linguistically incorrect, with Ceratopia being technically correct, but the former remains in common use.
Did You Know?
- The rostral bone on the upper jaw is a toothless ossification unique to ceratopsians.
- Epoccipital bones, which surrounded the neck frills of ceratopsids, were ornamental and began as separate bones that fused during growth.
- The name Ceratopsia is derived from Greek words meaning 'horn' and 'face'.
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