Dinosaurs A to Z
Ceratopsidae

Einiosaurus

Generic ceratopsian body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Einiosaurus 4.5 m (14.8 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ceratopsian body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Einiosaurus
Length
4.5 m (14.8 ft)
Period
Cretaceous (145–66 Mya)
Place
India · Montana, USA
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Ceratopsidae Dinosauria Ornithischia Cerapoda Marginocephalia Big horned ceratopsians of the Late Cretaceous.
Einiosaurus reconstruction by Nobu Tamura
Reconstruction · Nobu Tamura (CC-BY)

Einiosaurus is a genus of herbivorous centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian stage) of northwestern Montana. The name means ‘bison lizard’, in a combination of Blackfeet Indian eini and Latinized Ancient Greek sauros; the specific name (procurvicornis) means ‘with a forward-curving horn’ in Latin. Einiosaurus is medium-sized with an estimated body length at 4.5 m.

What we know

  • Named by Sampson, 1995.
  • Body length estimated at about 4.5 m.
  • Fossils found in India and Montana, USA.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Einiosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.