Helioceratops
Helioceratops was a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 100 million years ago in what is now China. It had a short lower jaw and walked on four legs. Its name means 'sun horned face' because scientists think horned dinosaurs like it first appeared in the East, where the sun rises.1
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Fun facts
Helioceratops is known from only two jaw bones: a right lower jaw (the holotype) and a left upper jaw (the paratype). They were found close together and may belong to the same animal.1
Its lower jaw is very short and deep. The tooth row is only 60% longer than the height of the jawbone.1
The teeth of Helioceratops have an unusual pattern of ridges: up to nine ridges in front of the main ridge but only four behind it.1
Helioceratops lived during the Albian to Cenomanian stages, about 100 million years ago, at the boundary between the Early and Late Cretaceous.1
Scientists think Helioceratops is a close relative of Auroraceratops, which means 'dawn horned face'.1
Most asked questions about Helioceratops
?How big was Helioceratops?
Helioceratops was a relatively small dinosaur. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated it was about 1.3 metres (4.3 feet) long and weighed about 20 kilograms (44 pounds).1
?What did Helioceratops eat?
Helioceratops was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It lived on land and likely shared its habitat with another plant-eating dinosaur called Changchunsaurus.1
?When did Helioceratops live?
Helioceratops lived about 100 million years ago, during the Albian to Cenomanian stages, which is the boundary between the Early and Late Cretaceous. Its fossils were found in the Quantou Formation in China.13
?Why is it called Helioceratops?
The name means 'sun horned face' because scientists think horned dinosaurs first appeared in the East, where the sun rises. It also refers to its close relationship with Auroraceratops, the 'dawn horned face'.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Helioceratops
- Named by
- Jin et al. 20093
- Group
- Horned dinos
- Family / clade
- Leptoceratopsidae3
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Ceratopsia3
- Age of the rocks
- 121 to 100 million years (Aptian / Albian)3
- Rock formations
- Quantou3
- Countries
- China3
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
- Discovery
- Helioceratops was named in 2009 by Jin Liyong, Chen Jun, Zan Shuqin and Pascal Godefroit. The fossils were dug up in 2000 and 2002 at the Liufangzi site in Jilin Province, China.12
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure whether Helioceratops had horns. No horn cores have been found, but it is a ceratopsian, so it may have had small horns on its face.1
Where the facts come from
- Helioceratops (en.wikipedia.org)
- Newly Discovered Dinosaur Speicies Named 'Helioceratops' -- Beijing Review (bjreview.com)
- Helioceratops in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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