Triceratops

Triceratops is a genus of chasmosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur that lived during the late Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period, about 69 to 66 million years ago on the island continent of Laramidia, now forming western North America. It was one of the last-known non-avian dinosaurs and lived until the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago. The name Triceratops, which means 'three-horned face', is derived from Ancient Greek trí-, meaning 'three', kéras, meaning 'horn', and ṓps, meaning 'face'.

A picture published with the record for Triceratops.

Source: Allie_Caulfield Derivative: User:MathKnight · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
TriceratopsiniPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ceratopsia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Ceratopsia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithischia
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Ceratopsia
Length
9 mWikidata
Mass
12 tonneWikidata

Time the record covers

At most 18 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 83.6 Mya and 66 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Cretaceous — about 166 of 166 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 166 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences83–83 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences80–80 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences77–77 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences75–75 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences74–74 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences72–72 Mya — about 13 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 16 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 16 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 16 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 16 occurrences69–69 Mya — about 16 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 16 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 16 occurrences67–67 Mya — about 16 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 16 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 3 occurrences84.1 Mya65.5 Mya

166 occurrences of Triceratops on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

166 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

12 formations

Lance — 43.30°N, 104.37°WLance — 42.20°N, 104.46°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.65°WLance — 43.14°N, 104.91°WLance — 43.24°N, 104.61°WLance — 43.18°N, 104.53°WLance — 37.58°N, 111.83°WLance — 45.75°N, 101.20°WLance — 42.65°N, 105.24°WLance — 43.27°N, 104.60°WLance — 43.14°N, 104.71°WLance — 42.09°N, 106.88°WLance — 41.91°N, 104.20°WLance — 43.30°N, 104.66°WLance — 43.20°N, 104.66°WLance — 43.49°N, 104.61°WLance — 43.00°N, 104.50°WLance — 43.28°N, 104.53°WLance — 43.44°N, 104.41°WLance — 45.48°N, 104.19°WLance — 43.42°N, 104.49°WLance — 45.39°N, 103.70°WLance — 45.52°N, 103.50°WLance — 41.73°N, 104.37°WLance — 45.39°N, 103.97°WLance — 45.46°N, 103.84°WLance — 47.79°N, 104.56°WLance — 47.48°N, 104.48°WLance — 43.49°N, 104.46°WHell Creek — 46.47°N, 104.02°WHell Creek — 47.54°N, 107.08°WHell Creek — 46.30°N, 103.98°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 47.68°N, 106.43°WHell Creek — 47.84°N, 106.16°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 106.38°WHell Creek — 47.53°N, 106.88°WHell Creek — 47.62°N, 106.18°WHell Creek — 47.57°N, 107.08°WHell Creek — 47.68°N, 106.22°WHell Creek — 46.09°N, 100.63°WHell Creek — 47.05°N, 104.74°WHell Creek — 46.26°N, 105.12°WHell Creek — 45.06°N, 103.45°WHell Creek — 47.58°N, 106.92°WHell Creek — 47.65°N, 106.28°WHell Creek — 45.73°N, 104.89°WHell Creek — 45.71°N, 103.56°WHell Creek — 45.38°N, 105.30°WHell Creek — 45.83°N, 103.90°WHell Creek — 46.41°N, 103.50°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 107.00°WHell Creek — 47.66°N, 107.34°WHell Creek — 47.54°N, 107.02°WHell Creek — 45.66°N, 105.08°WHell Creek — 45.89°N, 104.55°WHell Creek — 47.77°N, 106.29°WHell Creek — 46.57°N, 103.70°WHell Creek — 45.50°N, 103.10°WHell Creek — 45.64°N, 103.49°WHell Creek — 44.94°N, 101.65°WHell Creek — 47.06°N, 104.59°WHell Creek — 45.00°N, 103.19°WHell Creek — 45.00°N, 103.14°WHell Creek — 44.71°N, 103.06°WHell Creek — 43.67°N, 104.27°WHell Creek — 45.05°N, 102.88°WHell Creek — 46.29°N, 103.92°WHell Creek — 47.32°N, 107.15°WHell Creek — 47.72°N, 106.53°WFrenchman — 49.04°N, 106.60°WFrenchman — 49.40°N, 107.40°WFrenchman — 49.52°N, 108.82°WFrenchman — 49.30°N, 108.40°WFrenchman — 49.05°N, 106.57°WFrenchman — 49.34°N, 108.33°WFrenchman — 50.21°N, 107.37°WFrenchman — 49.06°N, 107.28°WFrenchman — 49.50°N, 109.05°WOjo Alamo — 36.34°N, 108.08°WLaramie — 40.39°N, 104.49°WLaramie — 40.67°N, 104.33°WLaramie — 40.76°N, 104.16°WScollard — 51.89°N, 113.01°WDenver — 39.81°N, 105.01°WDenver — 39.99°N, 104.82°WFerris — 42.16°N, 106.91°WFerris — 41.83°N, 106.62°WHall Lake — 33.15°N, 107.19°WDinosaur Park — 52.08°N, 112.98°WEvanston — 41.75°N, 110.63°WMedicine Bow — 41.83°N, 106.62°W

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The named rock units Triceratops has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Triceratops and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Triceratops and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

344 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 160 sites for Triceratops, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

83 references

Each of the 166 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 71 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content4

Picture of Triceratops

Credit
Source: Allie_Caulfield Derivative: User:MathKnight
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D scan

Licence
CC0 — this site’s default, not the record’s
Commercial use
the licence allows it
Specimen
Triceratops horridus Marsh, 1889

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Triceratops sp. · CF:MCFO-0506

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itTriceratopsini through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsh 1889