Dino card No. 1773 of 2,027

Terminocavus

Say it: ter-MIN-oh-KAY-vus

Name means: “coming to the end of the cavity, or last stop for the cavity”1

Ate: PlantsHorned dinosLate Cretaceous

Terminocavus was a horned dinosaur that lived in New Mexico about 75 million years ago. Its frill had a very narrow notch, unlike its relatives. It looked a bit like a smaller cousin of Triceratops.3 1

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

New Mexico, USA, in the Kirtland Formation3 1

Food

Plants3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Only one partial skeleton of Terminocavus has been found, including a heart-shaped frill and parts of the skull.1

The name Terminocavus means 'last stop for the cavity' because the notch in its frill was almost closed.1

It lived between about 75 and 73 million years ago, during the Campanian stage.3 1

The fossil was discovered by Paul Sealey in 1997 in New Mexico.1

Terminocavus is closely related to Pentaceratops and Anchiceratops.1

The frill of Terminocavus was flat and plate-like, not made of narrow bars like earlier relatives.1

Scientists think Terminocavus might be a step in an evolutionary line where the frill notch slowly closed over millions of years.1

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

?How big was Terminocavus?

It was about the size of a smaller cousin of Triceratops. Its known remains are slightly smaller than those of Pentaceratops and Utahceratops, so it was a medium-sized ceratopsian.2

?What did Terminocavus eat?

It was a plant-eater, like other ceratopsian dinosaurs. It used its beak to clip leaves and stems.2

?When did Terminocavus live?

It lived about 75 to 73 million years ago, during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.2 1

?Where was Terminocavus found?

Its fossil was discovered in the Kirtland Formation of New Mexico, USA, in 1997 by Paul Sealey.2 3

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Terminocavus
Named by: Fowler and Freedman Fowler 20203
Group: Horned dinos
Family / clade: Ceratopsidae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Ceratopsia > Ceratopsidae3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)3
Rock formations: Kirtland3
Countries: USA3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Terminocavus was named in 2020 by scientists Fowler and Freedman Fowler. The only known fossil, a partial skull, was found by Paul Sealey in the Kirtland Formation of New Mexico in 1997.3 1
Still debated: Scientists debate whether Terminocavus is a separate species or part of a slow, ongoing change from Pentaceratops to Anchiceratops.1

Where the facts come from

Transitional evolutionary forms in chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaurs: evidence from the Campanian of New Mexico (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Terminocavus (en.wikipedia.org)
Terminocavus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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