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CretaceousherbivoreFossil completeness: excellent

Wendiceratops pinhornensis

Pronunciation: WEN-dee-SER-ah-tops pin-HOR-nen-sis

A richly ornamented early centrosaurine from an Alberta bonebed, recognized by broad frill hooks that curl forward over the shield.

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Wendiceratops pinhornensis

The page URL and title are included automatically. Optional contact details are used only to discuss this report. Do not submit private information or precise sensitive fossil-site coordinates.

Last updated 28 July 2026

Head-and-neck life reconstruction of Wendiceratops pinhornensisArt by Danielle Dufault · CC BY 4.0

Field guide

Overview

Wendiceratops pinhornensis lived on southern Alberta’s coastal plain about 79 million years ago. More than 200 bones from at least four individuals make it one of the best represented early ceratopsids. Its broad, short frill carried a row of thick processes that curved forward over the bone like hooks. The original description also inferred a large upright nasal horn, potentially one of the earliest of its kind, but the relevant nasal material is incomplete. No secure brow horncores were recovered from the bonebed, so restorations of that area remain especially tentative.

Its fossils occur between approximately 79 and 78.7 million years ago. Values shown here are approximate and reflect the current curated seed dataset.

Form and function

Anatomy

Multiple parietals preserve the species’ diagnostic broad-based P2 and P3 frill ornaments, which bend forward and upward over the rear and side bars. The rostral and parts of the nasal region are known, but the top of the proposed nasal horn is missing. Skull pieces include jaws and teeth, while the bonebed also yielded vertebrae, ribs, shoulder and pelvic elements and limb bones from adult-sized and juvenile-sized animals. A 2023 study documented this postcranial sample in detail and identified a broad, rectangular end of the ischium among its distinctive features.

  • Broad-based frill ornaments curling forward over the shield
  • Short, wide parietal frill with large openings
  • Incomplete nasal material interpreted as supporting a tall upright horn
  • No securely known brow horncores from the type bonebed
  • Deep beak and numerous leaf-shaped teeth in dental batteries
  • Postcranial bones representing adults and at least one juvenile
  • Broad rectangular distal end of the ischium

Evolutionary position

Scientific classification

  1. 1Dinosauriaclade
  2. 2Ornithischiaclade
  3. 3Neornithischiaclade
  4. 4Marginocephaliaclade
  5. 5Ceratopsiaclade
  6. 6Ceratopsoideaclade
  7. 7Ceratopsidaefamily
  8. 8Centrosaurinaesubfamily
  9. 9Wendiceratopsgenus
  10. 10Wendiceratops pinhornensisspecies

This simplified classification path shows one placement from Dinosauria to this species. Each step is clickable, and other analyses may support alternative relationships.

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Scale

Size comparison

Scientific record

Discovery and naming

Fossil hunter Wendy Sloboda discovered the bonebed in Pinhorn Provincial Grazing Reserve in 2010. Royal Ontario Museum and Cleveland Museum of Natural History teams led by David Evans and Michael Ryan excavated it during the following field seasons. Evans and Ryan named Wendiceratops pinhornensis in 2015, selecting right parietal TMP 2011.051.0009 as the holotype. The genus honours Sloboda, while the species name records the Pinhorn region where the fossils were found.

Discovery credit: Wendy Sloboda, Royal Ontario Museum and Cleveland Museum of Natural History field teams.

Naming authors: David C. Evans, Michael J. Ryan.

Palaeoenvironment

Habitat and behaviour

The lower Oldman Formation in southern Alberta records river channels and floodplains on the western side of the Western Interior Seaway. Wendiceratops lived in a warm, seasonally wet landscape supporting conifers, flowering plants, ferns and other vegetation. Hadrosaurs, armoured dinosaurs, small herbivores and large theropods inhabited the wider formation. DinoTree uses only a broad Pinhorn regional marker rather than a sensitive quarry coordinate.

The bonebed contains several animals, including adults and a juvenile, showing that multiple Wendiceratops were together or accumulated at one place before burial. Taphonomic work supports a single-species bonebed, but this cannot reveal permanent herd organisation. The elaborate forward-curving frill ornaments probably served in visual communication and may also have affected physical interactions. Its beak and dental batteries identify a plant eater, while exact preferred foods and feeding height remain unknown.

Worth knowing

Field notes

  • Wendy Sloboda found the bonebed that inspired the genus name.
  • More than 200 bones represent at least four individuals.
  • Its frill ornaments curve forward over the shield instead of projecting simply outward.
  • The bonebed preserves enough limb and body material for a dedicated postcranial study published in 2023.

Fossil distribution

Fossil locations

Pinhorn Provincial Grazing Reserve fossil regionPinhorn Provincial Grazing Reserve fossil region, Milk River badlands, southern Alberta, Canada
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Pinhorn Provincial Grazing Reserve fossil region

Milk River badlands, southern Alberta, Canada

Oldman Formation

regional marker

Markers are deliberately approximate. They identify published fossil areas without exposing sensitive excavation coordinates.

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Fossil specimen record

Museums and research collections

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

verified

Drumheller, Canada

Repository of the holotype TMP 2011.051.0009 and the other catalogued Pinhorn bonebed specimens. Individual fossils may not be continuously exhibited.

Record type: originalChecked 28 July 2026Institution website

Royal Ontario Museum

historical

Toronto, Canada

ROM researchers led the study and the museum has presented a reconstructed Wendiceratops in past exhibitions. Visitors should check current galleries before planning a visit around the display.

Record type: castChecked 28 July 2026Institution website

A research repository is not necessarily a public exhibit. Loan and display status can change, so check with the institution before visiting.

Scientific uncertainty

  • The large upright nasal horn is an inference from incomplete nasal material; its complete outline is not preserved.
  • No brow horncores were recovered from the bonebed, so their size and shape should not be presented as known.
  • The minimum individual count is four, while the exact number represented by the disarticulated bones is uncertain.
  • Body size varies between estimates and no single complete articulated skeleton is known.

Evidence

References and sources

  1. 01
    Cranial anatomy of Wendiceratops pinhornensis gen. et sp. nov., a centrosaurine ceratopsid from the Oldman Formation, Alberta, Canada, and the evolution of ceratopsid nasal ornamentation

    David C. Evans, Michael J. Ryan · PLOS ONE 10(7), e0130007 · 2015

    Open source
  2. 02
    Postcranial description of Wendiceratops pinhornensis and a taphonomic analysis of the oldest monodominant ceratopsid bonebed

    Sebastian H. W. Scott, Michael J. Ryan, David C. Evans · The Anatomical Record 306(7), 1824–1841 · 2023

    Open source
  3. 03
    Spectacular new horned dinosaur reveals evolution of nose horns in the Triceratops family

    Royal Ontario Museum

    Open source