Open Paleo

Utahceratops

Sampson et al., 2010 YOO-tah-SEH-ruh-tops

From 'Utah', the U.S. state where the fossil was found, and Greek 'keras' (stem 'cerat') meaning 'horn' and 'ops' meaning 'face', hence 'Utah horned face'.

83.6–72.2 million years ago Campanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Utahceratops is an extinct genus of ceratopsian dinosaur that lived approximately 76.4~75.5 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Utah. Utahceratops was a large-sized, robustly-built, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivore, that could grow up to an estimated 4.5-5 m (15-16 ft) long.

Diagnosis

  1. Nasal horncore caudally positioned, almost entirely behind external naris
  2. Supraorbital horncores short, robust, dorsolaterally directed, and oblate in shape with blunt tip
  3. Episquamosals on mid portion of lateral frill margin low and extremely elongate (some >10 cm long)
  4. Median portion of transverse bar of parietal rostrally curved

Species

Utahceratops gettyi Sampson et al., 2010

Type species

Named for Mike Getty, who discovered the holotype and played a pivotal role in the recovery of fossils from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Holotype
UMNH VP 16784 , Utah Museum of Natural History
Material
Partial skull.
Horizon
Kaiparowits Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
Utah, United States

References

  1. Sampson, S. D.; Loewen, M. A.; Farke, A. A.; Roberts, E. M.; Forster, C. A.; Smith, J. A.; Titus, A. L. (2010). New Horned Dinosaurs from Utah Provide Evidence for Intracontinental Dinosaur Endemism. PLoS ONE 5(9): e12292. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012292 sampson2010a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the appearance features.

    jones2026a