Dinosaurs A to Z
Leptoceratopsidae

Udanoceratops tschizhovi

"Udan-Sayr horned face"

Generic ceratopsian body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Udanoceratops 4 m (13.1 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ceratopsian body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Udanoceratops
Length
4 m (13.1 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (100–66 Mya)
Place
North America · Mongolia
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Leptoceratopsidae
Udanoceratops reconstruction by PaleoNeolitic
Reconstruction · PaleoNeolitic (CC-BY)

Udanoceratops (meaning “Udan-Sayr horned face”) is a genus of large leptoceratopsid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period of Mongolia. The holotype specimen, the partial skeleton of an adult with its bones encapsulated in calcium carbonate, was discovered in the 1980s as part of the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition, and was subsequently transported to the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1992, it was described by palaeontologist Sergei Kurzanov. The sole species of Udanoceratops, also the type species, is Udanoceratops tschizhovi, named after a colleague of Kurzanov, D. O. Tschizhov. Additional remains have been assigned to Udanoceratops, though these may be misattributions.

Udanoceratops is the largest known leptoceratopsid, with some estimates placing it at about 4 m in length and 700 kg in weight.

What we know

  • Named by Kurzanov, 1992.
  • Body length estimated at about 4 m.
  • Fossils found in North America and Mongolia.

What we guess

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