Hungarian researchers have identified a new ceratopsian dinosaur skull from western Hungary, offering the strongest evidence yet that horned dinosaurs inhabited Europe during the Late Cretaceous.
The fossil, attributed to Ajkaceratops kozmai, was discovered at the Iharkut fossil site in the Bakony Mountains and examined by an international team led by Attila Ősi of Eötvös Loránd University. The findings were published in Nature.
The discovery challenges long‑held assumptions that ceratopsians — the group that includes the iconic Triceratops — lived only in Asia and North America. Researchers said the skull dates back roughly 85 million years, a time when present‑day Europe was a patchwork of islands along the ancient Tethys Sea.
Presenting the results at ELTE’s Faculty of Science in Budapest, university officials and scientists said the newly analyzed fossil reshapes understanding of dinosaur evolution in Europe and underscores the scientific value of the Iharkut excavation program, which has been active for decades.