Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Marginocephalia
Infraorder: Ceratopsia
Family: Ceratopsidae
Genus: Avaceratops

Species: A. Lammersi

Avaceratops was a small to medium ceratopsid that lived in the late Cretaceous (85-70 million years ago). Although the original description was based on a juvenile specimen, features of the skeleton indicate that the maximum adult size is less than that of other, comparable ceratopsids. A. lammersi is also notable for being one of the few ceratopsids, aside from triceratops, with a solid frill. Possible ancestral or evolutionary connections between the two species remain speculative at best.

Type Specimen: ANSP 15800

Type Species: Avaceratops lammersi

Dodson, P. (1986). Avaceratops lammersi: A New Ceratopsid from the Judith River Formation of Montana. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Vol. 138, No. 2, pp. 305-317.

Locality:

Judith River Formation, Montana, USA.

Scientific Resources:

Chinnery, B. (2004). Morphometric Analysis of Evolutionary Trends in the Ceratopsian Postcranial Skeleton. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Vol. 24, Issue 3, pp. 591-609.

Penkalski, P; and Dodson, P. (1999). The morphology and systematics of Avaceratops, a primitive horned dinosaur from the Judith River Formation (Late Campanian) of Montana, with the description of a second skull. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 692–711.