Pentaceratops

Field photograph to come

DV-0115Kirtland Fm., New Mexico

Pentaceratops

DV-0115

Lived
84 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Length
about 6.8 m (22 ft)
Group
Ceratopsians, Ceratopsidae
Found in
United States
Named by
Osborn 1923

Field notes

About Pentaceratops

Pentaceratops was a plant-eating ceratopsian that lived in the Late Cretaceous, 84 to 66 million years ago. It belongs to the family Ceratopsidae.

The Paleobiology Database lists 8 finds of Pentaceratops, from New Mexico and Colorado. Its fossils come from rocks including the Kirtland Formation, the Fruitland Formation and the Williams Fork Formation. It was named by Osborn in 1923.

The evidence

Where its fossils were found

Today

8 finds

75 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

To scale

How big was Pentaceratops?

0 m1 m2 m3 m4 m5 m6 m7 m
Pentaceratops: about 6.8 m (22 ft) · Person: 1.8 m (6 ft)Silhouette: typical ceratopsian shape

Lived alongside

Found in the same rock formations.

Close relatives

Other members of Ceratopsidae.

Sources: Paleobiology Database, WikidataNamed in: H. F. Osborn. 1923. A new genus and species of Ceratopsia from New Mexico, Pentaceratops sternbergii. American Museum Novitates 93:1-3