Zuniceratops

*Zuniceratops christopheri*

* Jurassic Park Institute Artwork
* Robert F Walters Artwork

***Zuniceratops*** ('Zuni-horned face') was a ceratopsian dinosaur from the mid Turonian of the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now New Mexico, United States. It lived about 10 million years earlier than the more familiar horned Ceratopsidae and provides an important window on their ancestry.

## Description

*Zuniceratops* appears to have been roughly 3 to 3.5 meters long (10-11 ft) and three feet (one meter) tall at the hips. It probably weighed 100 to 150 kilograms (200 to 250 lb). The frill behind its head was fenestrated but lacking epoccipitals. It is the earliest-known ceratopsian to have eyebrow horns and the oldest-known ceratopsian from North America. This set of horns is thought to have grown much larger with age.

## Discovery and Species

*Zuniceratops* was discovered in 1996, by 8 year old Christopher James Wolfe, son of paleontologist Douglas G. Wolfe, in the Moreno Hill Formation in west-central New Mexico. One skull and the bones from several individuals have been found. More recently, one bone, believed to be a squamosal, has since been found to be an ischium of a *Nothronychus*.

## Classification

*Zuniceratops* is an example of the evolutionary transition between early ceratopsians and the later, larger ceratopsids that had very large horns and frills. This supports the theory that the lineage of ceratopsian dinosaurs may have been North American in origin.

Although the first specimen discovered had single-rooted teeth (unusual for ceratopsians), later fossils had double-rooted teeth. This is evidence that the teeth became double-rooted with age. *Zuniceratops* was a herbivore like other ceratopsians and was probably a herd animal as well.

## Appearance

This dinosaur was superficially similar to later horned dinosaurs such as *Triceratops*, but it was smaller in size “About the size of a cow”, and only had two brow horns. It lived during the Middle to Late Cretaceous in North America at the same time with another Horned Dinosaur relative, Diabloceratops, browsing on such plants like the ancient cycads. It probably was a herd animal as well.

## JPInstitute.com Description

This is the oldest known member of the horned dinosaur family to actually have horns over its eyes. Christopher Wolfe, the 9-year-old son of scientist Doug Wolfe, found this rather small ancestor of Triceratops. It was a plant-eater which probably lived in herds.

This dinosaur is important for a number of reasons. It had small brow horns and is a nice example of an evolutionary transition between the earlier frilled dinosaurs such as Protoceratops, which it closely resembles, and the later, larger ceratopsians that had some very large horns and frills. It also supports the theory that the ceratopsian dinosaur lineage may have a North American origin.

It was found in the Zuni formation, named for a Native American tribe. This North American formation has yielded a number of very important Cretaceous fossils.

## Dinosaur Field Guide Description

Zuniceratops ("Zuni horned face") was the first ceratopsian, or horned dinosaur, to appear with horns over the eyes (an advanced feature) as well as several primitive features. Also important is the fact that it lived well before most other horned dinosaurs and in western North America. For a long time, scientists believed that horned dinosaurs originated in Asia and spread much later to North America. But the discovery of Zuniceratops, which was one of the earliest horned dinosaurs, caused scientists to consider another possibility-\_-that ceratopsians arose in North America, later spread to Asia (where new types evolved), and then reentered North America. Zuniceratops also has single-rooted teeth. (All the later ceratopsians have double-rooted teeth.) This shows that in ceratopsians, the frill and horns evolved first, followed by changes in the teeth.

### Fun Facts

Zuniceratops is the only known ceratopsian named after a Native American tribe.

### Trivia

Teeth of an even earlier ceratopsian, possibly related to Zuniceratops, were found in Maryland in 1991.

## Links

http://web.archive.org/web/20040806054724fw\_/http://www.jpinstitute.com/dinopedia/dinocards/dc\_zunic.html#
https://web.archive.org/web/20080706034237/http://kids.yahoo.com/dinosaurs/301--Zuniceratops

## References

* Wolfe, D.G. & Kirkland, J.I. 1998. *Zuniceratops christopheri* n. gen. & n. sp., a ceratopsian dinosaur from the Moreno Hill Formation (Cretaceous, Turonian) of west-central New Mexico. Lower and Middle Cretaceous Terrestrial Ecosystems, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 24: 307 317

* Wolfe, D. G. (2000). New information on the skull of *Zuniceratops christopheri*, a neoceratopsian dinosaur from the Cretaceous Moreno Hill Formation, New Mexico. pp. 93–94, in S. G. Lucas and A. B. Heckert, eds. Dinosaurs of New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin No. 17.