Diabloceratops

*Diabloceratops eatoni*

Robert F Walters Artwork

*Diabloceratops* is an extinct genus and species of centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur in the infraorder ceratopsia that lived during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous epoch. Its fossils were discovered in the Wahweap Formation of Southern Utah in North America. The genus name combines the Spanish word Diablo, meaning "devil", a reference to the horns on the neck shield, with the Latinised Greek word ceratops, meaning "horned face", a usual element in ceratopsian names. The specific name honours Jeffrey Eaton, a paleontologist at Weber State University and long time friend of the lead author Jim Kirkland. Eaton had a big role in establishing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument where the specimen was found. The type species, Diabloceratops eatoni, was named and described in 2010 by James Ian Kirkland and Donald DeBlieux.

## Discovery and occurrence

The only known specimen of *Diabloceratops* was discovered in 1998 and excavated in 2000 by the Utah Geological Survey, Natural History Museum of Utah, and Utah Friends of Paleontology.  The specimen resides here at the NMHU! It is the oldest known and one of the most primitive centrosaurine dinosaurs and was the first member of this group to be discovered south of Montana. This new species may be a primitive ancestor of the well-known ceratopsians *Triceratops* and *Styracosaurus*. Paleontologists know little about the early evolution of ceratopsians. While we have over 30 species from between 78 and 65 millions years ago, only three species have been discovered from between 90 and 78 million years ago. This makes *Diabloceratops* – a dinosaur unique to Utah – an important addition to our knowledge of the evolution of horned dinosaurs.

## Description

*Diabloceratops* is strange looking, even for a dinosaur. Unlike most other centrosaurine ceratopsians, *Diabloceratops* had long horns above its eyes and a short nose horn, similar to more well-known chasmosaurines such as *Triceratops, Kosmoceratops,* and *Utahceratops*. This animal also had a deep snout compared to other members of this group of horned dinosaurs. Like all ceratopsians, Diabloceratops had a beaked mouth for feeding on plants.

The ‘*Diablo*’ in this dinosaur’s name comes from the Latin word for ‘devil’, which is a reference to the large pair of upward and sideways curving horns on the back of its frill. There is speculation that spiders like *Nephila* may have made their webs in the horns of Ceratopsians like *Diabloceratops*. It lived 85.5-80 millions of years ago.

*Diabloceratops* was built like a centrosaurine ceratopsian, whose parietosquamosal frill contained a pair of elongated, slightly curved spikes extending from the top of the parietal . It is more closely related to *Einiosaurus* and *Styracosaurus* (also centrosaurines) than it is to *Chasmosaurus*, *Pentaceratops*, or *Triceratops* (chasmosaurine ceratopsians).

Upon the frill it also had a pair of very long spikes as in *Einiosaurus* and *Styracosaurus*. It being one of the earliest centrosaurine ceratopsids, Kirkland noted a character *Diabloceratops* shared with the more "primitive" protoceratopsid forms. Both possess an accessory opening in the skull that would become much reduced or disappear in later, more advanced ceratopsids. Kirkland saw this as an indication that the earlier species were not together included in some single natural group but instead presented a gradual sequence of ever more derived forms, increasingly closer related to the Ceratopsidae.

*Diabloceratops* is a very stocky ceratopsid that lived in Utah during the Late Cretaceous. *Diabloceratops* was very small compared to other centrosaurs: individuals reached around 2 meters long and weighed about 1.3 tons. *Diabloceratops* have two long, curved horns just above its eye orbits. Unlike other centrosaurines; *Diabloceratops* lacked bony knobs on their frills, but rather had two larger horns, instead of the many usual. *Diabloceratops* have four sturdy legs, a short tail and face.

## Paleoecology

*Diabloceratops* lived in the Wahweap Formation of Late Cretaceous Utah. During this time, the Western Interior Seaway would have been at its widest, only barely keeping Laramidia attached to North America. This habitat would have been ruled by large lakes, floodplains, and stretching east-flowing rivers. The abundance of rapid sedimentation tells scientists that the area had a seasonal wet climate, and good fossil preservation.

*Diabloceratops* shared a paleoenvironment with hadrosaurs *Acristavus*, *Adelolophus*, several unnamed ankylosaurs and pachycephalosaurs, and *Lythronax* as the apex predator. An abundance of marsupials, lungfish, bowfins, fish, sharks, rays, and many more types of animals provided a diverse paleoenvironment that Diabloceratops inhabited.

## Appearance in Jurassic Park and other media

### *Jurassic Park*

* Diabloceratops appears in *Jurassic World: Alive*.

## References

* https://nhmu.utah.edu/diabloceratops-eatoni
* https://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk/blog/\_archives/2021/10/12/diabloceratops-drawing.html
* https://dinosaurpictures.org/Diabloceratops-pictures
* https://www.sixflags.com/newengland/events/dinosaur-walk-thru/diabloceratops
* http://dinotoyblog.com/genus/diabloceratops/