Dino card No. 1560 of 2,027

Rubeosaurus

Say it: roo-bee-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “bramble lizard”1

Ate: PlantsHorned dinosLate Cretaceous

Rubeosaurus was a horned dinosaur with a big frill and spikes on its head. It lived in what is now Montana, USA, about 75 million years ago. It was a plant eater and walked on four legs.1 2

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago5

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Montana, USA, in the Two Medicine Formation1 2

Food

Plants1 2

Length

5 to 5.5 m4

Weight

1.8 tonnes to 2.7 tonnes4

Height

1.8 m4

standing height

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

standing height

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 2 cars

as long as 6 dogs nose to tailas long as 31 bananas end to endas heavy as 90 big dogsas heavy as 540 watermelonsabout as tall as a door

How big was Rubeosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Rubeosaurus had two long spikes on its neck frill that leaned inward toward each other, a feature that is unique to this dinosaur.3

The spikes on its frill were much shorter than those of its close relative Styracosaurus, with the longest measuring about 295 millimeters (11.6 inches).1

Rubeosaurus is known from very few fossils, only a few skull pieces, which made it one of the most mysterious horned dinosaurs.3

Scientists think Rubeosaurus was closely related to Einiosaurus, Achelousaurus, and Pachyrhinosaurus, based on the shape of its skull bones.3

Rubeosaurus lived in the same area and time as other horned dinosaurs like Einiosaurus and Achelousaurus, but they are found at different levels in the rock.3

The first fossil of Rubeosaurus was a piece of the back of the skull, found in Montana and described in 1930.1

AI-made picture of Rubeosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Rubeosaurus 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 Rubeosaurus

?How big was Rubeosaurus?

Scientists do not know its exact size because only a few skull pieces have been found, but it was probably about 5 to 5.5 metres (16 to 18 feet) long and weighed around 1.8 to 2.7 metric tons (2.0 to 3.0 short tons), like its close relative Styracosaurus.1 4

?What did Rubeosaurus eat?

Rubeosaurus was a plant eater. It had a beak and shearing cheek teeth that helped it slice up plants.1 4

?Did Rubeosaurus have feathers?

No, Rubeosaurus did not have feathers. It was a horned dinosaur with scales, like other ceratopsians.1

?When did Rubeosaurus live?

Rubeosaurus lived about 75 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period.1 3

?Where was Rubeosaurus found?

All Rubeosaurus fossils have been found in the Two Medicine Formation of Montana, USA, near Landslide Butte on the Blackfeet Nation.3

?How many spikes did Rubeosaurus have?

Rubeosaurus had at least two long spikes on each side of its neck frill, and the longest spike measured about 295 millimetres (11.6 inches).1

?Was Rubeosaurus a dinosaur?

Yes, Rubeosaurus was a dinosaur. It was a horned dinosaur called a ceratopsian.1

?Is Rubeosaurus the same as Styracosaurus?

Rubeosaurus was originally named as a species of Styracosaurus, but scientists now think it is a different genus. Some researchers still consider it a species of Styracosaurus.1 3

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Myth buster

Myth: Rubeosaurus is just a species of Styracosaurus.

Truth: Scientists used to think so, but in 2010 they gave it its own genus, Rubeosaurus, because its skull features are different. Some scientists still debate this, and it may be a species of Styracosaurus again.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Rubeosaurus
Named by: McDonald and Horner 20105
Group: Horned dinos
Family / clade: Ceratopsidae5
Classification: Ornithischia > Ceratopsia > Ceratopsidae5
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)5
Rock formations: Two Medicine5
Countries: USA5
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: The first fossil was found in Montana and named Styracosaurus ovatus by Charles Gilmore in 1930. In 2010, Andrew McDonald and Jack Horner gave it the new name Rubeosaurus after studying more fossils.1 3
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Rubeosaurus is its own genus or just a species of Styracosaurus, because the fossils are so incomplete.1

Where the facts come from

Styracosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
A Subadult Specimen of Rubeosaurus ovatus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae), with Observations on Other Ceratopsids from the Two Medicine Formation | PLOS One (journals.plos.org)
Styracosaurus (Wikipedia) (Wikipedia)
Rubeosaurus 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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