AGE:
Late Cretaceous (Campanian), Barun Goyot Formation, 75 million years ago

SIZE:
Adults up to 1 metre long

MEANING OF NAME:
'Small horned face'

PRONUNCIATION:
Bag-a-CER-a-tops

CLASSIFICATION:
CERATOPSIA: Neoceratopsia; Protoceratopsidae

This specimen of Bagaceratops rozhdestvenskyi is one of the smallest skulls known of a dinosaur. The large orbits suggest it was a juvenile. Related to Protoceratops andrewsi, this protoceratopsian was somewhat smaller, the skulls of the adults never exceeding 25cm in size.

A bony knob on the face, a precursor for the well-developed horns of the larger ceratopsians, was more prominent than that in Protoceratops andrewsi, but the frill was less elaborately developed. So, in one feature Bagaceratops rozhdestvenskyi was more advanced than Protoceratops andrewsi but in others, more primitive. It possessed a mixture of advanced and primitive characteristics.

As with other neoceratopsians, Bagaceratops had a sharp beak at the front of the jaws and a row of leaf shaped teeth behind. Below each tooth that erupted along the edge of the jaw was a waiting line of unworn teeth under the 'gums' so that these little dinosaurs were able to feed on very tough vegetation without wearing out their tooth supply.