Anchiceratops

Phylogeny: Dinosauria > Ornithischia > Genasauria > Neornithischia > Cerapoda > Marginocephalia > Ceratopsia > Neoceratopsia > Coronosauria > Ceratopsoidea > Ceratopsidae > Chasmosaurinae

Overview: Anchiceratops was formally described as a genus in 1914 by the renowned fossil hunter Barnum Brown, best known for his discovery of the Tyrannosaurus holotype over a decade prior. His description was based on a set of fossils he discovered a couple years before, in what is now the Canadian province of Alberta. Brown mainly had skull material to work with, but other remains of the animal would later be described. Anchiceratops translates from Greek as “near horned face”, a reference to Brown’s belief that the animal was a kind of transitional stage leading to Triceratops from earlier and more basal ceratopsids. We can’t be sure, of course, if Anchiceratops really was a direct ancestor of its more famous cousin. The two did belong to the Chasmosaurinae, one of the two main ceratopsid subfamilies, alongside the Centrosaurinae. Anchiceratops, like most members of said subfamily, possessed a fairly narrow snout, a small nasal horn, and longer brow horns.

Ceratopsids can be told apart most easily by observing their cranial ornamentation. In the case of Anchiceratops, it possessed a long, rectangular skull frill. It had large openings that would’ve been covered by skin and scales in life, as well as large, triangular hornlets running along the rim. These were probably used as display structures. Its brow horns were also likely used for display, but also for physical defense. Anchiceratops had to contend with large tyrannosaurids like Albertosaurus, which was probably the region’s top predator at that time. It itself would’ve eaten low-lying plants like ferns or perhaps some early flowering bushes. The beak at the front of its jaws was useful for snapping and cropping branches, while its cheek teeth were well suited for shearing. Fossil remains of Anchiceratops are known from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation and the Oldman Formation. It may also be known from the St. Mary River Formation.