Dinosaurs A to Z
Ceratopsidae

Torosaurus latus

"perforated lizard"

Generic ceratopsian body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Torosaurus 2.5 m (8.3 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ceratopsian body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Torosaurus
Length
2.5 m (8.3 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (68–66 Mya)
Place
North America · Saskatchewan, Canada · Utah, USA · Colorado, USA
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Ceratopsidae Dinosauria Ornithischia Cerapoda Marginocephalia Big horned ceratopsians of the Late Cretaceous.
Torosaurus reconstruction by Jaime A. Headden
Reconstruction · Jaime A. Headden (CC-BY)

Torosaurus (meaning “perforated lizard”, in reference to the large openings in its frill) is a genus of herbivorous chasmosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur that lived during the late Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period, between 68 and 66 million years ago, though it is possible that the species range might extend to as far back as 69 million years ago. Fossils have been discovered across the Western Interior of North America, from as far north as Saskatchewan to as far south as Texas.

Measuring between 7.5 and 9 and weighing around 8 MT, Torosaurus possessed the largest skulls of any known land animal, with the frilled skull reaching 2.77 m in length.

What we know

  • Named by Marsh, 1891.
  • Body length estimated at about 2.52 m.
  • Fossils found in North America and Saskatchewan, Canada.

What we guess

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