Anchiceratops was a kind of herbivorousdinosaur. It had a long frill on the back of its head and three horns on its face. There were two long ones above its eyes and one shorter one on its nose. It was similar to Triceratops, which also had these features. Anchiceratops was found in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, which is a fossil site in Alberta. There is just one species of Anchiceratops, A. ornatus.
Barnum Brown found the first Anchiceratops skulls in 1912. He gave them their name, Anchiceratops ornatus, in 1914, two years later. Anchiceratops means "almost Ceratops" and ornatus means "ornate." In 1924, C. M. Sternberg discovered another skull. It was smaller and had a long beak. In 1929, he named this species A. longirostris, meaning "long snout." However, in 1990, Leham decided that A. longirostris was only the female of A. ornatus. Another study done by Dodson and Currie in the same year agreed with this idea.[1] In 1925, Sternberg found a headless skeleton that he thought belonged to Anchiceratops. However, it could belong to Arrhinoceratops or a new genus. Other skulls have been found but they have never been described.[2]
Anchiceratops could be 4.5 meters (15 feet) long and 1.5 tonnes (1.65 tons) in weight. If the unnamed skeleton belonged to Anchiceratops, then it would only be 4.3 meters (14 feet) and weigh just 1.2 tonnes (1.32 tons).[3]
Anchiceratops had a short nose horn that went forwards. The horns above its eyes (brow horns) were long and went a bit to the side. They were slightly curved. The frill was narrow and had many small hornlets on its outside edge. It did not angle upwards very far. The snout on some specimens is very long.[3]
The skeleton that may belong to this dinosaur was strange. It was smaller than in most other ceratopsids. It had a long neck and strong arms,[3] but it had a short tail with only 38 vertebrae instead of 45. The length of its thighbone was 74 centimeters and its shin was 51.5 centimeters long.[2]
Anchiceratops lived in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation. Arrhinoceratops and one other ceratopsid may also have lived there. When Anchiceratops was alive the Horseshoe Canyon Formation was a floodplain with forests.[3]Anchiceratops seems to have liked marshy places, unlike other ceratopsids that liked drier locations.[2]
