Eotriceratops

Live reconstruction of Eotriceratops

• Canada

• Xerinsularis E. Wu et al. 2007

Eotriceratops is a genus of bird Beck dinosaurs from the group of Ceratopsidae within the ceratopsians.

From Eotriceratops only partially preserved skull is known. This was very large, the length of the animal is estimated to be 8.5 meters. On the nose there was a nose horn, the supraorbital horns were long and slightly bent forward. The cheek region was provided with conical and projecting cheekbones ( Epijugale ). Like all Ceratopsidae this dinosaur had a neck plate, the edge of which was provided with spindle-shaped ossifications. Like all Ceratopsidae Eotriceratops likely to have fed on plants and moves away quadruped.

The fossil remains of this dinosaur were found in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Alberta (Canada) and first described in 2007. The genus name is derived from the Greek words eos ( = " dawn " ) and triceratops ( = " three-horned face" ) and alludes to that of the dinosaurs may be an ancestor of Triceratops. Type species and only known species is Eotriceratops xerinsularis. The finds are (early Maastrichtian ) dated to the Late Cretaceous to an age 72-69 million years.

Systematically Eotriceratops is classified within the Ceratopsidae in the Chasmosaurinae which were characterized by large supraorbital horns and a long neck shield. This dinosaur is counted for Triceratops Torosaurus clade. He is older than his two relatives, who is known only from the late Maastrichtian, and forms therefore a paleontological important link to the later representatives of Chasmosaurinae.