Ceratopsia were beaked plant-eaters that ruled 100 million years of the dinosaur story

When and where

Ceratopsia lived from 161 to 66 million years ago, spanning the Late Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous. Early forms appeared in China and Mongolia, while the later giants dominated North America. Fossils also surface in Europe, confirming a broad northern distribution. The clade vanished in the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction.

How we know

The earliest known ceratopsian, Yinlong downsi, was described in 2006 from rocks in Xinjiang, China, dated to about 161 million years ago. The group did not gain wide attention until Othniel Charles Marsh named Triceratops in 1889 from specimens in Colorado and Wyoming. Since then, museums across the United States, China, and Mongolia have amassed hundreds of skulls and frill fragments that span every size from turkey-sized Psittacosaurus to the 9-metre Triceratops prorsus.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratopsia

What set it apart

Ceratopsians were herbivores with deep, parrot-like beaks at the front of the jaws and rows of slicing teeth farther back. Most later members grew a bony neck frill that protected the shoulders and anchored large jaw muscles. Triceratops bore three facial horns; Styracosaurus carried a spiked frill; Protoceratops had none at all. Adults of large species reached 8 to 9 metres in length and weighed up to 12 tonnes. Bonebeds containing dozens of individuals suggest many species lived in herds.

For collectors and classrooms

A Ceratopsia model brings the beaked face and frilled skull into sharp focus. Good replicas show the curved rostral bone, the cheek teeth, and the frill variations that separate one species from another. They work in a lesson on herbivore adaptations or as a display piece that pairs naturally with a predator figure.

Pick up a detailed Ceratopsia figure here.