Dinosaurs & Prehistory - Dinosaurs - Torosaurus - Ceratopsians - Dinosaur anatomy - Cretaceous
What striking feature did the large neck shield of Torosaurus have?
Correct!
Torosaurus was a large ceratopsian of the Late Cretaceous of North America. Its particularly long neck shield differed significantly from the more compact shield of Triceratops. Two large openings - so-called parietal windows - in the bony neck shield were characteristic. Fossil Torosaurus shields clearly show these windows. The neck shield could reach enormous dimensions. The Natural History Museum describes Torosaurus as a herbivore about 7.5 meters long and its cranial crest or neck shield as exceptionally large. Particularly interesting is a question that is still debated today: Some researchers suggested that Torosaurus could simply have been a very old growth stage of Triceratops, in which the shape of the neck shield changed significantly during aging. Other studies speak against this and continue to treat Torosaurus as a separate genus. A study of Triceratops bone histology published in 2024 also failed to definitively resolve the question and concluded that additional anatomical, taxonomic and histological data are needed.
Torosaurus is primarily distinguished from Triceratops by its long neck shield with two large parietal fenestraes in the bone.
