New research shows that Europe was home to a diverse group of horned dinosaurs during the Late Cretaceous period, with some fossils previously mistaken for other types of dinosaurs.
Susannah Maidment at the Natural History Museum in London, UK, and her colleagues studied new cranial material from the dinosaur Ajkaceratops, discovered in the Late Cretaceous Csehbánya Formation in Hungary. The specimen includes a partial skull preserving elements from the premaxilla to the supratemporal fenestra.
The team used micro-CT scanning to examine the skull’s internal structures and created 3D models for comparison with other dinosaurs. They also conducted phylogenetic analyses to determine its evolutionary relationships.
The results confirmed that Ajkaceratops is a ceratopsian, or horned dinosaur. Moreover, the study revealed that some dinosaurs previously classified as rhabdodontids, early-branching iguanodontians, are actually ceratopsians. For instance, Mochlodon vorosi from the same site is now considered a junior synonym of Ajkaceratops. Another taxon, formerly known as Zalmoxes shqiperorum from Romania, has been renamed Ferenceratops shqiperorum and reclassified as a ceratopsian.
“Our results unexpectedly demonstrate that some ‘rhabdodontid’ taxa are not, in fact, iguanodontians but actually ceratopsians,” the researchers write.
This finding indicates a substantial but previously hidden diversity of European horned dinosaurs. It also shows that ceratopsians coexisted with iguanodontians, making European ecosystems more similar to those in other parts of Laurasia than previously thought.
“This suggests a substantial but previously hidden diversity and evolutionary history of European horned dinosaurs,” researchers say. “Our results challenge conventional understanding of ornithischian dinosaur evolution and indicate the need for a fundamental re-evaluation of the Late Cretaceous herbivorous dinosaur assemblages of Europe.”
Citations
S. Maidment et al. A hidden diversity of ceratopsian dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Europe. Nature. Published online January 7, 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09897-w
