Sinoceratops
Sinoceratops was a big, plant-eating dinosaur with a fancy frill on its head and a horn on its nose. It lived in China during the Late Cretaceous, and it was the first horned dinosaur of its group found outside North America!12
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Fun facts
Sinoceratops had a short, hooked horn on its nose and no horns above its eyes, which is different from many other horned dinosaurs.1
Its neck frill had a row of forward-curving hornlets that made it look like a crown, plus a series of low knobs on top that no other horned dinosaur has.1
The skull of Sinoceratops was about 180 cm (5.9 ft) long, making it one of the largest centrosaurine skulls known.2
It was much larger than most other centrosaurines, similar in size to some chasmosaurines.2
Sinoceratops lived alongside the giant duck-billed dinosaur Shantungosaurus and the tyrannosaur Zhuchengtyrannus.1
It is the only ceratopsid dinosaur known from Asia; all other ceratopsids are from North America.1
Most asked questions about Sinoceratops
?How big was Sinoceratops?
About 5 metres (16 ft) long and 2 tonnes (2.2 short tons) in weight.1
?What did Sinoceratops eat?
It was a plant-eater, a herbivore that ate plants.1
?Did Sinoceratops have feathers?
No, there is no evidence that Sinoceratops had feathers. It was a horned dinosaur with scaly skin like other ceratopsians.1
?Was Sinoceratops bigger than Triceratops?
No, Sinoceratops was smaller. Triceratops could grow up to 9 metres (30 ft) long, while Sinoceratops was about 5 metres (16 ft).1
?When did Sinoceratops live?
It lived about 77.3 to 73.5 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period.1
?Where was Sinoceratops found?
Its fossils were discovered in Shandong province, China, in the Hongtuya Formation.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Some people think all horned dinosaurs lived in North America.
Truth: Sinoceratops is the first and only ceratopsid dinosaur found in China, showing that they also lived in Asia.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Sinoceratops
- Named by
- Xu et al. 20104
- Group
- Horned dinos
- Family / clade
- Ceratopsidae4
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Ceratopsia > Ceratopsidae4
- Age of the rocks
- 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)4
- Rock formations
- Hongtuya4
- Countries
- China4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Sinoceratops was named in 2010 by Xu Xing and colleagues, based on three skulls found in Zhucheng, China, in 2008.1
- Still debated
- Scientists debate whether Sinoceratops is a basal centrosaurine or more closely related to chasmosaurines, because it has features of both groups.2
Where the facts come from
- Sinoceratops (en.wikipedia.org)
- First ceratopsid dinosaur from China and its biogeographical implications (ivpp.cas.cn)
- PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
- Sinoceratops in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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