File:Torosaurus latus (ceratopsian dinosaur) (Late Cretaceous) 5.jpg

English: Torosaurus latus Marsh, 1891 - fossil ceratopsian dinosaur skull from the Cretaceous. (public display, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA)

Ceratopsians are the "horned dinosaurs". They were large, quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosaurs having a beaked skull and a frill - an extension of bone behind the skull that partially covered the neck. Ceratopsian dinosaurs are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous. The last members of the group died out at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, 65 million years ago.

Seen here is a Cretaceous-aged Torosaurus latus skull. Some researchers consider Torosaurus to be synonymous with Triceratops, but they are probably separate genera (Scannella & Horner, 2010; Longrich & Field, 2012).

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From exhibit signage:

Torosaurus latus

With the longest known skull of any land animal living or extinct, Torosaurus was the headliner of the horned dinosaurs. Its horns may be compared to those of modern-day rhinos and may have been used for defense against predators, in competition for mates, and - along with its imposing frill - for display to members of their own kind. Torosaurus will be featured in the new exhibit with many other horned dinosaur skulls, offering visitors a view of the incredible diversity of this dinosaur group.

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Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Reptilia, Archosauria, Dinosauria, Ornithischia, Marginocephalia, Ceratopsia, Ceratopsidae

Stratigraphy: undisclosed

Locality: undisclosed

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References cited:

Scannella & Horner (2010) - Torosaurus March, 1891, is Triceratops March, 1889 (Ceratopsidae: Chasmosaurinae): synonymy through ontogeny. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30: 1157-1168.

Longrich & Field (2012) - Torosaurus is not Triceratops: ontogeny in chasmosaurine ceratopsids as a case study in dinosaur taxonomy. Public Library of Science One 7(2): e32623. 10 pp.

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Info. at:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torosaurus