Pentaceratops

Pentaceratops
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Campanian), 76–73 Ma
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Holotype skull of P. sternbergii, AMNH 6325
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: †Ornithischia
Clade: †Neornithischia
Clade: †Ceratopsia
Family: †Ceratopsidae
Subfamily: †Chasmosaurinae
Genus: †Pentaceratops
Osborn, 1923
Type species
†Pentaceratops sternbergii
Osborn, 1923

Pentaceratops ("five-horned face") is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of what is now North America. Fossils of this animal were first discovered in 1921, but the genus was named in 1923 when its type species, Pentaceratops sternbergii, was described. Pentaceratops lived around 76–73 million years ago, its remains having been mostly found in the Kirtland Formation[1] in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico. About a dozen skulls and skeletons have been uncovered, so anatomical understanding of Pentaceratops is fairly complete. One exceptionally large specimen later became its own genus, Titanoceratops, due to its more derived morphology, similarities to Triceratops, and lack of unique characteristics shared with Pentaceratops.[2][3]

Pentaceratops was about 5.5–6 meters (18–20 ft) long, and has been estimated to have weighed around 2.5 metric tons (2.8 short tons). It had a short nose horn, two long brow horns, and long horns on the jugal bones. Its skull had a very long frill with triangular hornlets on the edge.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference kirtlandian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Longrich was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Wick, S. L.; Lehman, T. M. (2013). "A new ceratopsian dinosaur from the Javelina Formation (Maastrichtian) of West Texas and implications for chasmosaurine phylogeny". Naturwissenschaften. 100 (7): 667–82. Bibcode:2013NW....100..667W. doi:10.1007/s00114-013-1063-0. PMID 23728202. S2CID 16048008.