Albertaceratops

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title: "Albertaceratops" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["centrosaurinae", "dinosaur-genera", "campanian-dinosaurs", "oldman-formation", "fossil-taxa-described-in-2007", "dinosaurs-of-canada"] description: "Extinct genus of dinosaurs" topic_path: "geography/canada" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertaceratops" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of dinosaurs ::

| fossil_range = Late Cretaceous, | image = Philip J. Currie Albertaceratops.jpg | image_upright = 1.1 | image_caption = Skull in Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum | display_parents = 3 | genus = Albertaceratops | parent_authority = Ryan, 2007 | species = nesmoi | authority = Ryan, 2007

Albertaceratops (meaning "Alberta horned face") is a genus of centrosaurine horned dinosaur from the middle Campanian-age Upper Cretaceous Oldman Formation of Alberta, Canada.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Albertaceratops_BW.jpg" caption="Restoration"] ::

Albertaceratops is unusual in combining long brow horns with an otherwise centrosaurine skull, as centrosaurines normally possess short brow horns. Over its nose was a bony ridge, and on its frill were two large outwardly-projecting hooks.

Discovery and naming

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Albertaceratops_nesmoi_skull_by_Nick_Longrich.jpg" caption="Skull of the ''Albertaceratops nesmoi'' holotype, TMP 2001.26.1" alt="Albertaceratops skull"] ::

Albertaceratops is known from a single complete skull (TMP.2001.26.1) found in August 2001 and skull and postcranial fragments. A phylogenetic analysis carried out by its describer, Michael J. Ryan, found it to be the most basal centrosaurine. Additional specimens were reported from a bonebed in the Judith River Formation of Montana, which is equivalent to the Oldman Formation and differentiated only by the Canada–US border. However, further study showed these remains to come from a different centrosaurine, Medusaceratops. Both ceratopsids lived during the same time period, about 77.5 million years ago.

The specific name, A. nesmoi, is derived from the name of Cecil Nesmo, a rancher living in Manyberries, Alberta, a town of less than 100 people located 71 km south of Medicine Hat. The rancher was thus honored in recognition of his efforts to aid fossil hunters.

Classification

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Coronosaurus_and_Albertaceratops.jpg" caption="''[[Coronosaurus]]'' and ''Albertaceratops'' in environment"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Albertaceratops_Scale.svg" caption="Size of ''Albertaceratops'' compared to a human"] ::

The cladogram presented below follows a phylogenetic analysis by Chiba et al. (2017), which included a systematic re-evaluation of Medusaceratops lokii:

|label1=Centrosaurinae |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=Diabloceratops eatoni |2=Machairoceratops cronusi }} |2={{clade |label1 =Nasutoceratopsini |1={{clade |1=Avaceratops lammersi (ANSP 15800) |2=MOR 692 |3=CMN 8804 |4=Nasutoceratops titusi |5=Malta new taxon }} |2={{clade |1=Xenoceratops foremostensis |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Sinoceratops zhuchengensis |2=Wendiceratops pinhornensis }} |2=Albertaceratops nesmoi |3=Medusaceratops lokii |label4 =Eucentrosaura |4={{clade |label1 =Centrosaurini |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=Rubeosaurus ovatus |2=Styracosaurus albertensis }} |2={{clade |1=Coronosaurus brinkmani |2={{clade |2=Spinops sternbergorum |1=Centrosaurus apertus }} }} }} |label2 =Pachyrhinosaurini |2={{clade |1=Einiosaurus procurvicornis |label2 =Pachyrostra |2={{clade |1=Achelousaurus horneri |2={{clade |1=Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis |2={{clade |1=Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai |2=Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}

References

References

1. Its size has been estimated at {{convert. 5.8. m and {{convert. 3500. kg.Paul, G.S., 2010, ''The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs'', Princeton University Press p. 259
2. (2007). "A New Basal Centrosaurine Ceratopsid from the Oldman Formation, Southeastern Alberta". Journal of Paleontology.
3. Ryan, Michael J.; Russell, Anthony P., and Hartman, Scott. (2010). "A New Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid from the Judith River Formation, Montana", In: Michael J. Ryan, Brenda J. Chinnery-Allgeier, and David A. Eberth (eds), ''New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium'', Indiana University Press, 656 pp. {{ISBN. 0-253-35358-0.
4. (2018). "New material and systematic re-evaluation of ''Medusaceratops lokii'' (Dinosauria, Ceratopsidae) from the Judith River Formation (Campanian, Montana)". Journal of Paleontology.

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