Xenoceratops foremostensis (Beasts of the Mesozoic Ceratopsian series by Creative Beast Studio)

I, EmperorDinobot, have a less than healthy obsession with the Beasts of the Mesozoic. These are the dinosaurs I wanted to own as a kid. Dinosaurs that were articulated beyond what Kenner and later Hasbro’s dinosaurs could do. And here I am, roughly two decades later, sitting in bed with my own personal computer doing what I always did as a kid: browsing the catalogs which sometimes came in the boxes, or just the back of the card for some figures, always plotting what I should get next. These days I pass copious amounts of time looking at the Creative Beast Studio website ceaselessly, day and night, wondering which is going to be my next figure I got it almost exactly a year ago, along with the glow in the dark Zuniceratops, in an effort to fill in the gaps and holes in my collection. I’m already struggling to catch up, with only 8 of them left for me to collect as of this writing. Let us look at it, shall we?

“We took one of yourssss, made adjustttmenttzzz and now it is baaaaack”

I think this is my favorite insert picture thus so far. Too bad I had to put it in the trash.

Xenoceratops foremostensis (alien horned face)

Length: Up to 6m (20ft) long

Location: Foremost Formation, Alberta, CA

Time Period: Late Cretaceous 80 m.y.a.

Name by: Ryan, Evans and Shepherd, 2012

The first ceratopsian found in the Foremost Formation, Xenoceratops was also the oldest known ceratopsian in Canada at the time of its discovery. Its name ‘xenos’ means alien, or foreign, a reference to the lack of ceratopsian species from that area.

The beautiful card art was done by Raul Ramos, a frequent BOTM collaborator.

“Sometime I wish the aliens would abduct me and crown me as their leader.” George Noory

I could have made Alf jokes about eating cats, or done a homage to that one other Spielberg film that everybody likes, but they were a wee bit before my time. There is nothing alien about Xenoceratops except for that hypnotic gaze coming from its impressive parietals. If there is an alien behind the colors, it is definitely smarter than George Noory and his recent guests. But we are here to talk about the dinosaur behind the colors!

At 14 inches long, it is a tad too long for a 6 meter long animal compared to other 1/18 scale figures. It is not a far-fetched idea to pretend that this represents a large bull Xenoceratops. As usual, it boasts 19 points of articulation, and it uses the same body type that Albertaceratops has.

The colors are based on the Phuket horned tree agamid. The hands and feet are blood orange colored, with some ochre mixed in. The body is a clay yellow, with stripes ranging from black to dark brown. The horns and frill hornlets are eggshell colored, but the beak is dark yellow. The claws are black. The head has this coloring that almost looks like a tattoo, black on yellow, and the frill’s ornamentation really does look like a creature from the Twilight Zone. I imagine that Xenoceratops shaking its head could produce a frightening and hypnotic glare, as if the long horns were not enough to intimidate a predator. This is yet another great example of countershading on a ceratopsian figure. To read about countershading on dinosaurs, see the Psittacosaurus review here. It is very plausible that a lot of ceratopsians, regardless of size, used countershading to further hide their presence from the world.

I realized just now that one of the horns is bent on Alfie, whose name I just gave while writing this. I think it makes mine special.

The bones, discovered by famed paleontologist Dr. Wann Langston, Jr. in 1958 and housed at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ontario, include a parietal with a midline, sporting some distinctive triangular spikes, and some other remains of at least three other individuals,

The story goes that Dr, Michael Ryan of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Dr. David Evans from the Royal Ontario Museum went poking around the Canadian Museum of Nature, and re-discovered the bones Dr. Langston had brought in during the late 50’s. In 2003, and they soon realized they had a new species. In 2009 they discovered a plaster jacket also found in the same area, which had more skull bones from several individuals. In 2012, along with Dr. Kieran Shepherd, they described Xenoceratops foremostensis. Xenoceratops is the oldest ceratopsian in the Americas, beating Alberaceratops by 0.5 million years. Only Zuniceratops from New Mexico is older. The Foremost formation has yielded hadrosaur teeth, the pachycephalosaur Colepiocephale, and Xenoceratops, which is where it gets its name from, as the Foremost formation is poorly understood, and is a bit farther away from locations that are well known from yielding lots of ceratopsian fossils.

Alfie is going to enjoy it here. Why stay in the park when it can go on an intergalactic adventure? The Diabloceratops is practically egging Alfie to go along, since she is unable to go as she has kids to feed.

The re-discovery is Xenoceratops highlights the importance of looking back into forgotten cabinets, drawers and boxes left to gather dust, because they may yield new dinosaur species without needing to go out into the field. Lots of fossils have been found this way, so keep your eyes open!

I am always going to love the dinosaur figures produced by Creative Beasts studios. Sure, we have to warm up the tight joints and the tails in order to insert them, but that is what hairdryers are for. I only have 8 ceratopsians left to acquire as of this writing, just 8. I highly recommend them! They are a love letter to dinosaur and action figure collectors. You can read more about them here, and you can buy your own Xenoceratops here.