Anchiceratops - Biology

Biology

Anchiceratops is rare compared to other ceratopsians in the area, and usually found near marine sediments, in both the Horseshoe Canyon and Dinosaur Park Formations. This indicates that Anchiceratops may have lived in estuaries where other ceratopsids did not live. Flowering plants were increasingly common but still rare compared to the conifers, cycads and ferns which probably made up the majority of ceratopsian diets.

C.M. Sternberg originally designated a smaller skull as the new species Anchiceratops longirostris, because of its size, and also its much more slender horns that point forwards instead of upwards. However, modern paleontologists find that the size and form of this skull falls within the range of variation seen in A. ornatus and so it is probably a member of that species. It has also been proposed that Anchiceratops is a sexually dimorphic species, where the skull of A. longirostris actually represents a female. Other Anchiceratops skulls are larger, more robust, and show much longer horns that point more vertically (a form proposed to represent the male). However, preliminary statistical analysis of Anchiceratops specimens revealed that these variations in skull form do not actually fall into two distinct morphs, and more likely represent individual variation or gradual changes during growth.