Centrosaurus

Centrosaurus is a genus of centrosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur from the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous of Canada. Its remains have been found in the Dinosaur Park Formation, dating from 76.5 to 75.5 million years ago. The type and only species seen as valid today is Centrosaurus apertus.

Centrosaurus

Daderot · CC0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CentrosauriniPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ceratopsia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Ceratopsia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithischia
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Ceratopsia
Length
6 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At most 18 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 83.6 Mya and 66 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Cretaceous — about 57 of 57 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 57 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences83–83 Mya — about 3 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 3 occurrences82–82 Mya — about 3 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 3 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 3 occurrences80–80 Mya — about 3 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 3 occurrences79–79 Mya — about 3 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 3 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 3 occurrences77–77 Mya — about 3 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 3 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 3 occurrences75–75 Mya — about 3 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 3 occurrences74–74 Mya — about 3 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 3 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 3 occurrences72–72 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences69–69 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences67–67 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences84.1 Mya65.5 Mya

57 occurrences of Centrosaurus on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

57 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Dinosaur Park — 50.74°N, 111.53°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.48°WDinosaur Park — 50.76°N, 111.43°WDinosaur Park — 50.79°N, 111.61°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.41°WDinosaur Park — 50.74°N, 111.57°WDinosaur Park — 50.51°N, 110.39°WOldman — 50.73°N, 111.80°WOldman — 50.73°N, 110.06°WOldman — 49.23°N, 110.69°WJudith River — 46.46°N, 109.41°WJudith River — 46.10°N, 109.11°W

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The named rock units Centrosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Centrosaurus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Centrosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

110 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 55 sites for Centrosaurus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

22 references

Each of the 57 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 10 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Centrosaurus

Credit
Daderot
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Centrosaurus apertus · USNM:PAL:USNM V8897

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCentrosaurini through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Lambe 1905