Dino card No. 1953 of 2,027

Xuanhuaceratops

Say it: SHWAN-hwa-SEH-rah-tops

Name means: “Xuanhua horned face”1

Ate: PlantsHorned dinosLate Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Xuanhuaceratops was a tiny, early horned dinosaur that lived in what is now China. It walked on two legs sometimes and used its beak to nibble plants.1

Lived

152 to 133 million years ago3

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Hebei Province, northeastern China1 3

Food

Plants1 3

Length

1 m1

Weight

6 kg1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 2 house cats nose to tailas long as 6 bananas end to endabout as heavy as a house catas heavy as 50 bananas

How big was Xuanhuaceratops compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Xuanhuaceratops is one of the earliest known horned dinosaurs, living about 150 million years ago in the Late Jurassic.1

It was very small, only about 1 metre (3.3 feet) long and weighed as much as a large cat, around 6 kilograms (13 pounds).1

The first fossil was discovered in the 1970s by a man named Nie Rongzhen near Yanjiagou, China.1

Xuanhuaceratops had a unique feature: a single tooth in the premaxilla (the front part of the upper jaw).1

Its upper arm bones were very slender, only 4 centimetres (1.6 inches) long, suggesting it could walk on two legs when needed.1

Scientists think Xuanhuaceratops belongs to a family called Chaoyangsauridae, which includes some of the very first ceratopsians.1 2

The outer side of its lower jaw had a rough, bumpy texture with grooves and ridges, which is also seen in some other early ceratopsians.1 2

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

?What did Xuanhuaceratops eat?

It was an herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It used its beak to nibble on plants.1 3

?How big was Xuanhuaceratops?

About 1 metre (3.3 feet) long and weighed around 6 kilograms (13 pounds), about the size of a large dog.1

?When did Xuanhuaceratops live?

It lived during the Late Jurassic Period, about 150 to 145 million years ago.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Xuanhuaceratops
Named by: Zhao et al. 20063
Group: Horned dinos
Family / clade: Chaoyangsauridae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Ceratopsia3
Age of the rocks: 152 to 133 million years (Kimmeridgian / Valanginian)3
Rock formations: Tuchengzi3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The first fragmentary skeleton was found in the 1970s by Nie Rongzhen near Yanjiagou, China. It was named Xuanhuaceratops niei in 2006 by Zhao Xijin, Cheng Zhengwu, Xu Xing, and Peter J. Makovicky.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Xuanhuaceratops is related to other early ceratopsians because its fossils are incomplete.2

Where the facts come from

Xuanhuaceratops (en.wikipedia.org)
A New Taxon of Basal Ceratopsian from China and the Early Evolution of Ceratopsia | PLOS One (journals.plos.org)
Xuanhuaceratops 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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