Triceratops horridus

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'.

Triceratops horridus

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
TriceratopsPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ceratopsia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Ceratopsia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithischia
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Ceratopsia

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 41 of 41 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 41 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 3 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 4 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 4 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 4 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 4 occurrences69–69 Mya — about 4 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 4 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 4 occurrences67–67 Mya — about 4 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 4 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences84.1 Mya65.5 Mya

41 occurrences of Triceratops horridus 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

41 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

6 formations

Lance — 42.20°N, 104.46°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.65°WLance — 43.24°N, 104.61°WLance — 43.27°N, 104.60°WLance — 43.14°N, 104.71°WLance — 41.91°N, 104.20°WLance — 43.30°N, 104.66°WLance — 43.20°N, 104.66°WLance — 43.22°N, 104.55°WLance — 45.39°N, 103.97°WHell Creek — 46.30°N, 103.98°WHell Creek — 47.84°N, 106.16°WHell Creek — 45.38°N, 105.30°WHell Creek — 47.55°N, 107.12°WHell Creek — 47.54°N, 107.02°WHell Creek — 47.06°N, 104.59°WHell Creek — 45.00°N, 103.14°WHell Creek — 44.71°N, 103.06°WHell Creek — 45.05°N, 102.88°WScollard — 51.89°N, 113.01°WLaramie — 40.67°N, 104.33°WDinosaur Park — 52.08°N, 112.98°WEvanston — 41.75°N, 110.63°W

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

Triceratops horridus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

8 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 38 sites for Triceratops horridus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

20 references

Each of the 41 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. 8 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 horridus

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

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Triceratops horridus · usnm:paleobiology:USNM V 2100

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 itTriceratops through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

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