Ceratopsian Month #27 – Kosmoceratops richardsoni

An illustration of the extinct ceratopsid dinosaur Kosmoceratops. It's a chunky quadrupedal dinosaur with a parrot-like beak, a narrow blunt nose horn, long sideways-curving brow horns, and a long rectangular frill topped with a “fringe” of eight long folded-over spikes and a pair of sideways-curving hooks. It's depicted with speculative quills on its back and hips, and it's colored brown and yellow with dark blue on its upper parts, with pink and green eyespot markings on its frill.

Kosmoceratops (“ornamented horned face”) was discovered in Utah, USA, and had one of the most ornate skulls of any known dinosaur.

Living about about 75 million years ago, it’s known from a partial skeleton and an almost complete skull and is estimated to have measured around 5m long (16’4”).

Its frill was relatively short and wide for a chasmosaur, topped with a “fringe” of eight long folded-over spikes and a pair of sideways-curving hooks. Its brow horns curved sideways, and its nose horn was thin and flattened into a blade-like shape.

Overall it had a total of fifteen large horns and spikes – ten big frill spikes, two brow horns, a nose horn, and two cheek spikes – along with sixteen additional scallops along the sides of its frill.

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