Dinosaurs / Cretaceous / Nasutoceratops
Nasutoceratops
Cretaceous nah-SOO-toe-SEH-rah-tops, “large-nosed horned face”
Nasutoceratops was an unusual centrosaurine ceratopsid discovered in the Upper Cretaceous strata of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. Reaching about four and a half metres in length and tipping the scales at around one and a half tonnes, it was about the size of a large bull. Unlike most centrosaurines, which typically possessed short brow horns and elaborate frill spikes, Nasutoceratops exhibited long, sweeping horns above its eyes that pointed forwards and outwards in a fashion remarkably reminiscent of modern cattle. It also possessed an exceptionally broad, deep snout with pneumatic cavities, though its olfactory organs were not enlarged. Its simple, unadorned neck frill formed a circular shield edged with modest scalloped osteoderms. Nasutoceratops belongs to a distinct branch of early centrosaurines adapted to the warm, riverine coastal plains of southern Laramidia.
Its long, forward-curving brow horns resembled those of modern Spanish fighting bulls.
Where and when
Nasutoceratops lived in the Late Cretaceous, from 76 to 75.5 million years ago (Campanian age). Its remains come from United States, in the Kaiparowits Formation.
The numbers
Length 4.8 m (estimates run from 4.5 to 5 m). Mass about 1.7 t. Hip height about 1.7 m. That is 2.8 human-lengths, or 0.43 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.