Dino card No. 0748 of 2,027

Graciliceratops

Say it: gras-i-li-SERRA-tops

Name means: “slender horned face”1

Ate: PlantsHorned dinosLate Cretaceous

Graciliceratops was a tiny, early horned dinosaur that ran around Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous. It had a delicate frill on its head and ate plants.1 2

Lived

100 to 84 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Mongolia, from the Bayan Shireh Formation near Sainshand1 2

Food

Plants1 3

Length

0.6 to 2 m2

the only known specimen was a juvenile about 60 cm long; adults may have reached 2 m

Weight

2.27 kg to 9.1 kg2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 2.5 house cats

as long as 4 house cats nose to tailas long as 11 bananas end to endas heavy as 76 bananas

How big was Graciliceratops compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Graciliceratops had a very slender, fragile frill with large holes in it, held up by thin struts of bone.2

The only fossil found is a young animal, because its sacral vertebrae were not yet fused together.2

Its shin bone (tibia) was longer than its thigh bone (femur), which helped it run fast.2

Graciliceratops lived alongside the large dromaeosaurid Achillobator and the tyrannosauroid Khankhuuluu.2

The name Graciliceratops means 'slender horned face' because of its light, graceful build.1 2

It was a basal neoceratopsian, an early relative of later horned dinosaurs like Protoceratops.2

AI-made picture of Graciliceratops — An AI-made picture of how Graciliceratops might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Graciliceratops

?How big was Graciliceratops?

The only known fossil is a young animal about 60 cm long and weighing 2.27 to 9.1 kg. Scientists think a full-grown adult would have been around 2 m long, about the size of a small pony.2 1

?What did Graciliceratops eat?

It was an herbivore, eating plants. Fossil fruits found in the same area show that flowering plants grew there, so it probably ate those.2 1

?When did Graciliceratops live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 99 to 84 million years ago.1 2

?Was Graciliceratops a dinosaur?

Yes, it was a small ceratopsian dinosaur, a relative of later horned dinosaurs like Protoceratops.1 2

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Graciliceratops
Named by: Sereno 20003
Group: Horned dinos
Family / clade: Neoceratopsia3
Classification: Ornithischia > Ceratopsia3
Age of the rocks: 100 to 84 million years (Cenomanian / Santonian)3
Rock formations: Baynshire3
Countries: Mongolia3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The first fossil was found in 1971 by a Polish-Mongolian expedition. It was originally called Microceratops, but Paul Sereno gave it the new name Graciliceratops in 2000.2 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how big a fully grown Graciliceratops was, because the only known skeleton is from a juvenile.2

Where the facts come from

Graciliceratops | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Graciliceratops (en.wikipedia.org)
Graciliceratops in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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