Liaoceratops

"Liaoning horned face"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Liaoceratops 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Early Cretaceous (125.75–125.68 Mya)
Place
China
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.

Liaoceratops, meaning “Liaoning horned face”, is a ceratopsian dinosaur believed to be an early relative of the horned ceratopsids. It lived in the Early Cretaceous, 126 million years ago. It was discovered in China by a team of American and Chinese scientists. Liaoceratops was much smaller than its later relatives, but offers a glimpse into the early evolution of this group of dinosaurs.

What we know

  • Named by Xu et al., 2002.
  • Fossils found in China.

What we guess

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