Ceratopsian (Noun)
Meaning
Any of several four-footed herbivorous dinosaurs with enormous beaked skulls; of the late Cretaceous in North America and Mongolia.
Classification
Nouns denoting animals.
Examples
- The Triceratops is a well-known ceratopsian from North America with a distinctive frill and three horns on its skull.
- Styracosaurus was another large ceratopsian characterized by a frill and horns, primarily found in Canada during the Late Cretaceous period.
- Scientists believe the frills of ceratopsians like Psittacosaurus might have served a display purpose rather than for defense against predators.
- Several fossils of Protoceratops, a ceratopsian from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, were discovered during an early-20th-century paleontological expedition.
- Due to its late appearance during the Cretaceous, Styracosaurus likely evolved as a unique offshoot within the larger group of ceratopsians that originated millions of years earlier.