Dinosaurs A to Z
Ceratopsidae

Protorosaurus pro-TO-ro-SOR-us

Generic ceratopsian body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Protorosaurus 6 m (19.7 ft) long
as long as 4 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ceratopsian body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Protorosaurus
Length
6 m (19.7 ft)
Period
Late Triassic (259.5–254.1 Mya)
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Ceratopsidae Dinosauria Ornithischia Cerapoda Marginocephalia Big horned ceratopsians of the Late Cretaceous.
Protorosaurus reconstruction by SeismicShrimp
Reconstruction · SeismicShrimp (CC-BY)

Protorosaurus is a ceratopsidae known from the Triassic period, of uncertain origin. Most of what’s published comes from a small number of specimens, and the fuller picture of how it lived is still being worked out.

What we know

  • Originally named by Lambe 1914.