Agujaceratops

Agujaceratops was a medium-sized chasmosaurine ceratopsid known from the Aguja Formation of West Texas. Originally classified in 1989 as a species of Chasmosaurus, it was placed in its own genus in 2006 due to notable differences in its skull architecture. 5 tonnes, Agujaceratops possessed an unusual, steeply rising neck frill that had a deeply scalloped posterior margin. Its brow horns curved gracefully upwards and outwards, and its snout was proportionally shorter than that of typical Canadian chasmosaurines. Agujaceratops lived along swampy coastal margins of the Western Interior Seaway, sharing its lush environment with enormous hadrosaurs and the giant crocodylian Deinosuchus. Its existence in Texas underscores the unique provincialism of southern dinosaur communities during the Campanian.

It lived in a coastal swamp ecosystem in what is now the hot desert of Big Bend National Park, Texas.

Where and when

Agujaceratops lived in the Late Cretaceous, from 77 to 73 million years ago (Campanian age). Its remains come from United States, in the Aguja Formation.

The numbers

Length 5.2 m (estimates run from 4.5 to 5.8 m). Mass about 1.9 t. Hip height about 1.7 m. That is 3.1 human-lengths, or 0.46 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

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