Herbivorous dinosaurs and the evidence for plant-eating

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• Aquilops: an early horned dinosaur from North America

  Aquilops americanus explained through its juvenile skull, hooked beak, Early Cretaceous age, uncertain body size and Asian connections.

• Archaeoceratops: a small early neoceratopsian from China

  Explore Archaeoceratops fossils from Gansu, its age, anatomy, classification, size and the evidence behind its debated species.

• Arrhinoceratops: a rare horned dinosaur from Alberta

  Learn what the Arrhinoceratops skulls reveal about its horns, frill and growth, why its name is misleading, and what the incomplete skeleton cannot tell us.

• Adratiklit: one of the earliest well-diagnosed stegosaurs

  Adratiklit boulahfa was a Middle Jurassic Moroccan stegosaur known from a diagnostic vertebra and several referred bones. Explore its fossils, age and limits.

• Aletopelta: an armoured dinosaur buried in marine rocks

  Aletopelta explained through its partial Point Loma skeleton, pelvic armour, marine burial and the changing evidence for its ankylosaur relationships.

• Alxasaurus: an early therizinosaur from Inner Mongolia

  How five partial Alxasaurus skeletons from the Bayin-Gobi Formation helped place the unusual segnosaur dinosaurs among theropods.

• Animantarx: Utah's ankylosaur found by a radiation survey

  The Carol site discovery, holotype skull and skeleton, subtle natural radioactivity and uncertain placement of the Cedar Mountain ankylosaur Animantarx.

• Antarctopelta: the first dinosaur collected in Antarctica

  The 1986 James Ross Island find, incomplete holotype, armour and debated relationships of the Antarctic ankylosaur Antarctopelta oliveroi.

• Coahuilaceratops: massive brow horns from northern Mexico

  Discover the Coahuilaceratops fossils from Coahuila, their revised age and formation, skull anatomy, estimated size and incomplete horns.

• Diabloceratops: an early centrosaurine with curved frill spikes

  Discover Diabloceratops eatoni, its Utah fossils, revised age, skull anatomy, classification, estimated size and debated functions of its horns.

• Gigantspinosaurus: giant shoulder spikes, moderate body size

  Gigantspinosaurus sichuanensis had shoulder spikes twice the length of its scapula and rare fossil skin. Learn what the bones show and what remains debated.

• Hungarosaurus: a well-sampled European ankylosaur

  Hungarosaurus tormai is known from several skeletons at Iharkút, including a type rich in skull bones and more than a hundred osteoderms. Its anatomy documents a European nodosaurid, while body mass and the details of its armour rely on reconstruction.

• Jiangjunosaurus: the stegosaur known from its neck and jaw

  Jiangjunosaurus is known from a partial articulated skeleton in the Shishugou Formation. Its neck, jaw and teeth define the evidence; the familiar spiked stegosaur silhouette is not preserved.

• Kosmoceratops: a crowded skull, a cautious interpretation

  Kosmoceratops richardsoni is known from a near-complete skull and additional fossils from Utah’s Kaiparowits Formation. Its many horn and frill projections are directly observable; what they meant in life remains an interpretation.

• Liaoningosaurus: a tiny ankylosaur that was still growing

  Liaoningosaurus is known from tiny Early Cretaceous fossils, but the small size reflects immature animals. Histology published in 2025 identified one specimen as a hatchling and revised the species’ growth story.

• Mymoorapelta: an early ankylosaur with a pelvic shield

  Mymoorapelta maysi is an early ankylosaur from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation. Newly described fossils distinguish it from Gargoyleosaurus, while its exact position among early ankylosaurs remains debated.

• Neimongosaurus: the long-necked therizinosaur of Inner Mongolia

  Discover the unusually complete Neimongosaurus backbone and foot, its estimated size, plant-oriented teeth and disputed family placement.

• Paranthodon: a disputed armoured dinosaur from South Africa

  Discovered in 1845, Paranthodon is known from only a few cranial bones and a vertebra. Its history is unusually rich, while its position among armoured dinosaurs remains unstable.

• Peloroplites: an armoured dinosaur from Utah

  Examine Peloroplites cedrimontanus from Utah’s Cedar Mountain Formation, its partial skull and skeleton, and the changing phylogenetic interpretations tested in 2026.

• Regaliceratops: a crown-shaped frill and a test of convergence

  Regaliceratops peterhewsi is known from a nearly complete but damaged skull found beside Alberta’s Oldman River. Its crown-like frill and large nasal horn resemble some centrosaurines, while its inferred relationships place it among chasmosaurines – a case of possible convergence, not close kinship by appearance alone.

• Sinoceratops: a ceratopsid with a crown of frill processes

  Three partial skull specimens from Shandong preserve Sinoceratops’s distinctive horn-like frill processes. They establish a ceratopsid in China, while its body size, habits and biogeographic history require comparison.

• Suzhousaurus: a large therizinosaur from Early Cretaceous China

  Learn what two Suzhousaurus skeletons preserve, how large it grew, what its pelvis suggests and why its family placement is debated.

• Utahceratops: what six specimens reveal together

  Utahceratops gettyi is represented by six specimens from the Kaiparowits Formation. Their combined remains preserve much of the skull and skeleton, but that completeness belongs to the sample as a whole, not to one fully intact animal.

• Wendiceratops: a richly sampled but disarticulated horned dinosaur

  Wendiceratops pinhornensis is known from a dense, disarticulated bonebed in Alberta. Its frill ornaments and nasal horn base are informative, but the complete horn shape and the circumstances that gathered the bones remain uncertain.

• Xenoceratops: when old museum material revealed a new dinosaur

  Xenoceratops foremostensis was named from frill fossils collected in Alberta decades before their significance was recognised. The sample represents at least three adult-sized animals, but the skull remains fragmentary and the genus is diagnosed from limited cranial material.

• Zuul: what a nearly complete ankylosaur can tell us

  Zuul crurivastator is based on ROM 75860, an exceptionally complete ankylosaur from Montana’s Judith River Formation. Its preserved armour, skin impressions and healed injuries provide rare evidence, while the exact cause of each wound remains uncertain.

• Acrotholus: an early domed dinosaur from Alberta

  Acrotholus audeti is an early North American pachycephalosaurid from Alberta's Milk River Formation. Its well-preserved dome is diagnostic, but the rest of the animal is known from limited material and its place in the global record has changed.

• Sphaerotholus: a domed skull with a complicated species history

  Sphaerotholus is known mostly from partial skull roofs. Five species names have been proposed, but their boundaries and relationships remain debated; no complete skeleton establishes its body, diet or behaviour.

• Micropachycephalosaurus: the tiny dinosaur with a disputed family tree

  Micropachycephalosaurus hongtuyanensis is a very small Late Cretaceous dinosaur from Shandong, China. Its fragmentary holotype preserves unusual vertebral features, but no confirmed skull dome and no settled placement among ceratopsians and pachycephalosaurs.

• Nedoceratops: one skull and a debated place near Triceratops

  Learn what the Nedoceratops hatcheri skull shows about its age, anatomy, classification and disputed relationship with Triceratops.

• Nothronychus: the theropod that changed the picture of herbivory

  Nothronychus combines the ancestry of predatory theropods with anatomy associated with plant eating. Two North American species preserve different parts of that story, and neither is a complete skeleton.

• Pentaceratops: a horned dinosaur with a disputed type

  Discover Pentaceratops sternbergii from the Campanian of New Mexico, what its famous skull preserves, and why the missing rear frill complicates its name.

• Pinacosaurus: armour and growth in a well-known ankylosaur

  Explore Pinacosaurus fossils from Mongolia and China, its armour, juvenile specimens and the changing classification of its species.

• Polacanthus: the pelvic shield of an Isle of Wight ankylosaur

  Discover the Polacanthus pelvic shield, its incomplete fossil skeleton, Victorian history and debated relationships among ankylosaurs.

• Saichania: a well-preserved ankylosaur and a disputed skeleton

  Saichania is anchored by an articulated Mongolian holotype with skull, forebody and armor in place. A nearly complete skeleton often used in its reconstruction has a disputed referral and must be treated separately.

• Shamosaurus: an early armored dinosaur from the Gobi

  Shamosaurus scutatus is an Early Cretaceous ankylosaurid named from a Mongolian skull and jaw. Its cranial armor and anatomy are better documented than its full body, limiting precise size and tail reconstructions.

• Spicomellus: an early ankylosaur with extraordinary armour

  See what Spicomellus fossils reveal about its extraordinary armour, Moroccan discovery and place among the earliest known ankylosaurs.

• Stenopelix: an ornithischian whose missing skull limits its identity

  Stenopelix is known from one unusually complete postcranial skeleton found in 1855, but its skull is missing. The fossils support ornithischian affinities; a more precise placement remains disputed.

• Struthiosaurus: a small armoured dinosaur of Europe

  Explore Struthiosaurus fossils from Austria, France and Romania, its armour, disputed relationships and the limits of its incomplete skeletons.

• Talarurus: the ankylosaur whose skull became clearer with new finds

  Talarurus is a Mongolian ankylosaurid described from incomplete remains. Three additional skulls published in 2020 clarified its cranial armour and exposed how much the early type record had left uncertain.

• Tarchia: a Mongolian ankylosaur with a preserved tail club

  Tarchia explained through three recognised species, unevenly preserved skulls and skeletons, a fossil tail club and disputed evidence of combat.

• Tsagantegia: a distinctive ankylosaur known from its skull

  Tsagantegia is known from one Late Cretaceous skull from Mongolia. Its long proportions and patterned cranial armour are observable; its body, tail club and exact feeding behaviour are not preserved.

• Tylocephale: a tall skull whose full shape is still uncertain

  Tylocephale is known from one incomplete, distorted skull from the Barun Goyot Formation. Its tall profile and squamosal nodes are observable, while the shape of its living dome and body remain uncertain.

• Yinlong: a small biped near the base of Ceratopsia

  Explore Yinlong fossils from Xinjiang, its skull and teeth, estimated size, bipedal gait, growth evidence and debated relationships.

• Zuniceratops: an early combination, not a proven ancestor

  Zuniceratops christopheri is known from fragmentary skull and postcranial fossils in New Mexico’s Turonian Moreno Hill Formation. Its brow horns and simpler frill preserve a combination of traits, but the fossils do not make it a direct ancestor of later ceratopsids.

• Albertaceratops: long brow horns from Alberta

  Albertaceratops nesmoi from Alberta: its skull, type specimen, late Campanian age, uncertain body-size estimates and centrosaurine relationships.

• Avaceratops: a young skeleton, an uncertain adult

  Learn what the growing Avaceratops holotype preserves, how histology informs its age, and why adult horns and classification remain debated.

• Cedarpelta: an armoured dinosaur known from partial fossils

  What Cedarpelta's Utah skulls, teeth and scattered armour reveal about this early ankylosaur, and why its size, tail and family placement remain uncertain.

• Chaoyangsaurus: an early ceratopsian from northeastern China

  Explore the Chaoyangsaurus type fossil, its beak and teeth, uncertain Jurassic age, estimated size and position among early ceratopsians.

• Chungkingosaurus: the small stegosaur of the Shaximiao Formation

  Chungkingosaurus jiangbeiensis is known from a partial skeleton and armour plates from the Upper Shaximiao Formation. Its small reported size and exact relationships need cautious interpretation.

• Einiosaurus: a forward-curving horned dinosaur

  Einiosaurus procurvicornis from Montana: its holotype, Two Medicine bonebeds, forward-curving nasal horn, growth, classification and uncertain behaviour.

• Emausaurus: a small Early Jurassic thyreophoran

  Learn what the small Emausaurus ernsti holotype reveals about Early Jurassic thyreophorans, and why its adult size and armour pattern remain uncertain.

• Gargoyleosaurus: a well-preserved skull from an early ankylosaur

  Explore Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum through its Wyoming skull, partial skeleton and neck armour, with the limits of its size and debated family placement.

• Garudimimus: an early branch of the ostrich-mimic dinosaurs

  Garudimimus brevipes is based on a partial skeleton from the Bayanshiree Formation of Mongolia. A redescription refined its anatomy and diagnosis, while its tooth-bearing jaws distinguish it from many later ostrich-mimic theropods.

• Gastonia: an early Cretaceous ankylosaur with a spiked shield

  Gastonia from the Cedar Mountain Formation: its two species, skulls, pelvic shield, spikes, disputed family placement and bonebed.

• Gobisaurus: what an ankylosaur skull can and cannot settle

  Gobisaurus domoculus is anchored by a broad, nearly complete skull from Inner Mongolia. Its age, formation assignment and relationship to Zhongyuansaurus remain debated; a tail club is not documented for the type specimen.

• Goyocephale: a flat-headed pachycephalosaur with a limited record

  Goyocephale lattimorei is based on a partial skull, jaws and postcranial fragments from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. Its anatomy informs pachycephalosaur diversity, although the species remains poorly known and its placement is not equally resolved in every analysis.

• Graciliceratops: a small skeleton and a changing name

  Graciliceratops mongoliensis is known from a small, incomplete skeleton from the Bayan Shireh Formation. Its history includes an earlier referral to Microceratops, and its exact position among early ceratopsians remains sensitive to incomplete anatomy.

• Hesperosaurus: plates, skin impressions and a debated name

  Hesperosaurus mjosi is represented by several useful skeletons from the Morrison Formation, including skulls, broad plates and rare skin impressions. Its status as a separate genus or Stegosaurus mjosi remains a taxonomic question.

• Liaoceratops: a small skull with an important place in horned-dinosaur history

  Liaoceratops yanzigouensis is represented by an adult holotype skull and juvenile specimens from the Yixian Formation. Its mix of primitive and derived features informs early neoceratopsian evolution, while tooth replacement studies reveal detail unavailable from external shape alone.

• Minmi: an Australian armoured dinosaur known from a partial skeleton

  Minmi paravertebra is based on a partial skeleton from Queensland, not the nearly complete fossil once referred to Minmi sp. Its anatomy, age and disputed placement must be kept separate from Kunbarrasaurus.

• Ceratopsians and ceratopsids: from early beaked dinosaurs to horned giants

  Learn how Ceratopsia differs from Ceratopsidae, from small early Asian species to centrosaurines and chasmosaurines of the Late Cretaceous.

• Lufengosaurus: a well-sampled early sauropodomorph from Yunnan

  Lufengosaurus is known from numerous Yunnan fossils, including the nearly complete holotype IVPP V15 and juvenile material. Its anatomy is well studied, but species boundaries, growth and the old label ‘prosauropod’ need careful explanation.

• Massospondylus: a well-known dinosaur with an incomplete record

  Massospondylus explained through its neotype, species, southern African fossils, growth, eggs and embryos, size estimates and limits of behavioural evidence.

• Borealopelta: an armoured dinosaur with skin and gut contents

  Learn what Borealopelta's exceptional Alberta fossil reveals about its armour, skin, reddish pigmentation, body size and fern-rich gut contents.

• Chasmosaurus: the long-frilled ceratopsid after its 2026 revision

  Learn how Chasmosaurus was discovered, what its skulls and skin impressions preserve, why its species assignments changed and how large it grew.

• Plateosaurus: abundant fossils, unsettled species boundaries

  Plateosaurus is represented by many European skeletons, but its species names and growth record have a long history of revision. The ICZN designated P. trossingensis as the type species in 2019; newer studies still debate species boundaries and variation.

• Scelidosaurus: an armoured dinosaur from the Dorset coast

  The Dorset skeleton NHMUK R1111 preserves much of an armoured ornithischian. Modern study revised its anatomy and placed Scelidosaurus near the base of Ankylosauria, while disputed finds elsewhere remain uncertain.

• Nasutoceratops: the big-nosed horned dinosaur

  Explore Nasutoceratops titusi, a centrosaurine from Utah with long forward-curving brow horns, a large nasal region and a distinctive fossil history.

• Nigersaurus: the sauropod with a tooth battery

  Discover Nigersaurus, the small Cretaceous sauropod with a broad muzzle, hundreds of replacement teeth and an inferred low-browsing lifestyle.

• Sauropelta: an armoured dinosaur with long shoulder spikes

  A detailed Sauropelta profile covering Cloverly Formation skeletons, neck armour, shoulder spikes, size estimates and its debated ankylosaur relationships.

• Therizinosaurus: Mongolia’s giant with enormous claws

  Learn what the famous claws of Therizinosaurus reveal, how the fossils were misidentified and why its body and diet remain partly reconstructed.

• Abrosaurus: a rare sauropod skull from Jurassic China

  Abrosaurus explained through its nearly complete Middle Jurassic skull, spoon-shaped teeth, corrected species name, uncertain body size and macronarian affinities.

• Agujaceratops: a Texas ceratopsid known chiefly from its head

  A detailed Agujaceratops profile covering the change from Chasmosaurus mariscalensis, two species, skull fossils and the limits of its body reconstruction.

• Adeopapposaurus: a beaked early dinosaur from Argentina

  Learn how Adeopapposaurus was named, what its partial skeletons show, and what remains uncertain about its age, size, gait and diet.

• Deinotherium and its extraordinary lower tusks

  How deinothere fossils reveal a giant proboscidean with tusks in its lower jaw, and what remains uncertain about its diet and extinction.

• Agrosaurus: the Australian dinosaur that was not Australian

  The history of Agrosaurus macgillivrayi, the evidence against its Australian provenance, and why its fragmentary bones are usually linked to Thecodontosaurus.

• Pachycephalosaurus: the domed dinosaur of western North America

  Pachycephalosaurus was a large, late Maastrichtian pachycephalosaurid known chiefly from skulls. Its thick dome is well documented, but head-to-head combat and the status of several juvenile-looking genera remain debated.

• Stegoceras: how a skull dome changed during growth

  Stegoceras validum is a pachycephalosaur from Alberta known especially for its frontoparietal dome. Skull fossils and growth studies reveal how the dome developed, but they do not by themselves prove head-butting behaviour.

• Homalocephale: what a flat skull can – and cannot – tell us

  Homalocephale is known from a substantial but immature Mongolian skeleton. Its flat skull cannot by itself show what the adult head looked like or how pachycephalosaur domes developed.

• Prenocephale: a domed pachycephalosaur from Mongolia

  Prenocephale prenes was a small, domed pachycephalosaurid from Mongolia's Nemegt Formation. Its skull and partial skeleton are unusually informative, while body mass and the proposed relationship with Homalocephale remain uncertain.

• Ankylosaurus

  A detailed Ankylosaurus guide covering its fossils, 6–8 m size, skin armour, tail club, feeding, classification and the limits of reconstruction.

• Euoplocephalus: an ankylosaurid from Alberta

  Euoplocephalus tutus is a heavily armoured ankylosaurid from Alberta’s Dinosaur Park Formation. A 2013 revision separated several species once combined under this name.

• Edmontonia: armour and shoulder spikes without a tail club

  Edmontonia explained: its nodosaurid armour, shoulder spikes, changing fossil assignments, size, diet and limits of reconstruction.

• Nodosaurus: a Wyoming nodosaur with an incomplete skeleton

  What the Wyoming Nodosaurus fossils show about its armour, size, age and classification, and what remains unknown without a skull.

• Silvisaurus: a nodosaur from ancient Kansas

  Silvisaurus explained through its rare Kansas skull, nodosaurid armour, river-coast habitat and the limits of its single incomplete skeleton.

• Hylaeosaurus: one of the first known armoured dinosaurs

  Hylaeosaurus explained through its single partial skeleton, shoulder spikes, early ankylosaur classification and role in the history of Dinosauria.

• Kentrosaurus: a small stegosaur with long tail spikes

  Explore Kentrosaurus aethiopicus, its Tendaguru fossils, disputed armour arrangement, size, diet and evidence for a weapon-like tail.

• Huayangosaurus: an early stegosaur with distinctive armour

  Huayangosaurus taibaii explained through its Dashanpu fossils, skull, teeth, armour, debated age and uncertain position among stegosaurs.

• Stegosaurus

  A detailed Stegosaurus guide covering species, Morrison fossils, 7–9 m size, back plates, defensive tail spikes, feeding, growth and the second-brain myth.

• Styracosaurus

  A detailed Styracosaurus guide covering Alberta fossils, 5–5.8 m size, nasal horn, long frill spikes, classification, growth and herd evidence.

• Protoceratops

  A detailed Protoceratops guide covering its Gobi fossils, two species, 1.8–2.5 m size, beak, frill, growth, nests and the Fighting Dinosaurs specimen.

• Triceratops

  A detailed Triceratops guide: discovery, two species, Hell Creek fossils, 8–9 m size, dental batteries, horn function, growth and Torosaurus debate.

• Psittacosaurus: fossils, species and a parrot-like beak

  Explore Psittacosaurus through hundreds of Asian fossils, its beaked skull, growth stages, rare skin and tail bristles, and the limits of claims about colour and behaviour.

• Ceratopsians: the branching history of horned dinosaurs

  Explore ceratopsian origins, major branches, beaks, frills, feeding and what fossils can and cannot reveal about horns and herd behaviour.

• Dacentrurus: a large stegosaur of Late Jurassic Europe

  Explore Dacentrurus armatus, its European fossils, changing name, plates and tail spikes, estimated size and limits of its reconstruction.

• Lexovisaurus: a disputed name for a Jurassic stegosaur

  What the fragmentary Lexovisaurus fossils show, why its status is disputed, and how some material was reassigned to Loricatosaurus.

• Tuojiangosaurus: what two partial skeletons preserve

  Tuojiangosaurus multispinus is one of the best-known Asian stegosaurs, based on partial skeletons from Sichuan. Its vertebrae, teeth and osteoderms support a detailed reconstruction, although the original plate arrangement and tail armour remain incomplete.

• Centrosaurus

  A detailed Centrosaurus guide covering Alberta bonebeds, 5–5.5 m size, nasal horn, hooked frill ornaments, growth, diet and evidence for grouping.

• Anchiceratops: a distinctive skull, an uncertain body

  Explore Anchiceratops ornatus through its variable skulls, Alberta fossils, uncertain body skeleton and evidence for a single accepted species.

• Pachyrhinosaurus

  A detailed Pachyrhinosaurus guide covering its three species, 5–7 m size, nasal boss, Alberta and Alaska bonebeds, growth, diet and polar habitat.

• Bagaceratops: a small horned dinosaur of the Gobi

  Bagaceratops rozhdestvenskyi explained through its skull series, holotype, growth, debated synonyms, body skeleton, size, feeding and Gobi habitat.

• Microceratus: a small ceratopsian with a fragmentary record

  What the Microceratus gobiensis jaw, old locality records and reassigned Graciliceratops skeleton reveal about this doubtful ceratopsian.

• Leptoceratops: the small ceratopsian with powerful jaws

  Discover Leptoceratops gracilis through its deep jaws, tooth wear, uncertain gait, approximate size and fossils from Canada and the United States.

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