The evolutionary origins of "Styracosaurus" were not understood for many years because fossil evidence for early ceratopsians was sparse. The discovery of "Protoceratops", in 1922, shed light on early ceratopsid relationships, but several decades passed before additional finds filled in more of the blanks. Fresh discoveries in the late 1990s and 2000s, including "Zuniceratops", the earliest known ceratopsian with brow horns, and "Yinlong", the first-known Jurassic ceratopsian, indicate what the ancestors of "Styracosaurus" may have looked like. These new discoveries have been important in illuminating the origins of horned dinosaurs in general, and suggest that the group originated during the Jurassic in Asia, with the appearance of true horned ceratopsians occurring by the beginning of the late Cretaceous in North America.