Ceratopsian Month #11 – Xenoceratops foremostensis

An illustration of the extinct ceratopsid dinosaur Xenoceratops. It's a chunky quadrupedal dinosaur with a parrot-like beak, a blunt ridged nose "horn", long brow horns, and a large bony frill with a pair of forward-pointing knobs and a pair of large spikes at the top.

Xenoceratops (“alien horned face”) was one of the earliest centrosaurs known from Canada, discovered in Alberta and dating to about 80-78 million years ago – very similar in age to the more southern Diabloceratops.

It’s estimated to have been around 6m long (19′8″), and although the known fragmentary fossil material doesn’t include much of its face, there’s evidence of it having fairly long brown horns and a long low boss-like nasal horn.

It a had a pair of forward-pointing knobs and a pair of large spikes at the top of its frill, but the exact number and arrangement of the rest of its ornamentation isn’t clear. This particular image is based on Scott Hartman’s “best guess” Xenoceratops skeletal, but other reconstructions vary.

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