Leptoceratops

*Leptoceratops gracilis*

* Timothy Bradley Artwork
* Robert F Walters Artwork

***Leptoceratops*** (meaning 'lean-horned face' and derived from Greek ***'lepto-/λεπτο-'*** meaning 'small', 'insignificant', 'slender', 'meagre' or 'lean', ***'kerat-/κερατ-'*** meaning 'horn' and ***'-ops/ωψ*** meaning face), is a genus of primitive ceratopsian dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous Period (late Maastrichtian age, 66.8-66.038 Ma ago) of what is now Western North America, at the same time as their giant relatives of the genus *Triceratops*. Their skulls have been found in Alberta, Canada and in Wyoming. They could probably stand and run on their hind legs. Analysis of forelimb function indicates that even though they couldn't pronate their hands, they could also walk on four legs.

*Leptoceratops* was around 2 metres (6.6 feet) long and could have weighed anywhere between 68 to 200 kilograms (150 to 440 lbs).

## Description

Leptoceratops could probably stand and run on their hind legs: analysis of forelimb function indicates that even though they could not pronate their hands, they could walk on four legs. Paul proposed that Leptoceratops was around 2 m (6.6 ft) long and could have weighed 100 kg (220 lb), but Tereschenko proposed a maximum length of 3–4 m (9.8–13.1 ft).

## Discovery and Species

The first small ceratopsian named, *Leptoceratops* was discovered in 1910 (and described four years later), by Barnum Brown in the Red Deer Valley in Alberta, Canada. The first specimen had a part of its skull missing, however there have been later well-preserved finds by C. M. Sternberg in 1947, including one complete fossil. There has been later material found in 1978 in Bighorn Basin in northern Wyoming. The type species is *Leptoceratops gracilis*. In 1942, material collected in Montana was named *Leptoceratops* *cerorhynchos* but this was later renamed Montanoceratops.

## Classification

*Leptoceratops* belonged to the Ceratopsia, a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks that thrived in North America and Asia during the Cretaceous Period. Although traditionally allied with the Protoceratopsidae, it is now placed in its own family, Leptoceratopsidae, along with dinosaurs such as *Udanoceratops* and *Prenoceratops*. The relationships of *Leptoceratops* to ceratopsids are not entirely clear. Although most studies suggest that they lie outside the protoceratopsids and ceratopsids, some studies suggest that they may be allied with Ceratopsidae. The absence of premaxillary teeth is one feature that supports this arrangement.

## Paleobiology

### Diet

*Leptoceratops*, like all ceratopsians, was a herbivore. During the Cretaceous Period, flowering plants were "geographically limited on the landscape", so it is likely that this dinosaur fed on the predominant plants of the era: ferns, cycads and conifers. It would have used its sharp ceratopsian beak to bite off the leaves or needles.

## JPInstitute.com Description

Scientists know more about how this small dinosaur looked than how it lived. Leptoceratops had a long, slender body. It had short forelimbs, and may have spent most of its time walking or standing on its hind legs. It is considered to be one of the more primitive ceratopsians, lacking the large frills and horns common to its relatives.

Most of the Leptoceratops remains were found in North America, and are dated from the last age of the Cretaceous. The shocking discovery of a nearly perfect ulna in Australia, dating from the first part of the Cretaceous, gives us a picture of a simple creature that lived all over the globe. It was also apparently very successful as it survived almost 50 million years, despite the presence of some of the most ferocious predators of all time.

## Dinosaur Field Guide Description

Leptoceratops ("slender horned face") had a head that was relatively large for its stocky body. This may mean that it never grew big, or that we have only found fossils of juveniles. Leptoceratops had only one defense, its parrot-like beak. The jaws of horned dinosaurs like Leptoceratops were the most powerful for their size of any plant-eater's. They had enough power, for example, to break the arm of any similar-sized theropod. Leptoceratops is most similar to the earlier Psittacosaurus and Protoceratops. But Leptoceratops lived over 30 million years later, at the very end of the Age of Dinosaurs in North America. There are two possible explanations for this. The first is that Leptoceratops, or its ancestors, immigrated across the land bridge between Asia and North America at the end of the Cretaceous, but their fossils have so far been found only in North America. The second is that they were an early group of immigrants that survived only in North America, while their Asian ancestors went extinct.

### Fun Facts

Leptoceratops was named by Barnum Brown, the same man who found Tyrannosaurus rex.

### Trivia

The best display of Leptoceratops fossils is at the Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Canada.

## Appearance in other media

### *Jurassic Park*

* *Leptoceratops* appears in the playstation game of The Lost World: Jurassic Park when you play as the *Compsognathus*. It can be found in the first two levels, High Ridge and Rainforest where it guards the DNA. Due to its large size, compared to the player, it can do a large amount of damage to the player although successfully killing it does reward you with a lot of health. The main attack of the *Leptoceratops* is a bucking-goring motion making head on attacks difficult although an attack from behind can do a large amount of damage. It is believed that *Leptoceratops* could stand and run on its hind legs as well as walk on all fours as it does in the game.

## Links

http://web.archive.org/web/20040806054524fw\_/http://www.jpinstitute.com/dinopedia/dinocards/dc\_lepto.html#
https://web.archive.org/web/20080507214117/http://kids.yahoo.com/dinosaurs/109--Leptoceratops