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Rostral Bone
Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassic. The earliest known ceratopsian, ''Yinlong downsi'', lived between 161.2 and 155.7 million years ago.Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2011) ''Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages,'Winter 2010 Appendix./ref> The last ceratopsian species, ''Triceratops prorsus'', became extinct during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, . ''Triceratops'' is by far the best-known ceratopsian to the general public. It is traditional for ceratopsian genus names to end in "''-ceratops''", although this is not always the case. One of the first named genera was ''Ceratops'' itself, which lent its name to the group, although it is considered a ''nomen dubium'' today as its fossil remains have no distinguishing characte ...
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Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name "Malm" indicates rocks of Late Jurassic age. In the past, ''Malm'' was also used to indicate the unit of geological time, but this usage is now discouraged to make a clear distinction between lithostratigraphic and geochronologic/chronostratigraphic units. Subdivisions The Late Jurassic is divided into three ages, which correspond with the three (faunal) stages of Upper Jurassic rock: Paleogeography During the Late Jurassic Epoch, Pangaea broke up into two supercontinents, Laurasia to the north, and Gondwana to the south. The result of this break-up was the spawning of the Atlantic Ocean. However, at this time, the Atlantic Ocean was relatively narrow. Life forms of the epoch This epoch is well known for many famous types of dinosau ...
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Liaoceratops
''Liaoceratops'', meaning "Liaoning horned face", is a ceratopsian dinosaur believed to be an early relative of the horned ceratopsids. It lived in the Early Cretaceous, 126 million years ago. It was discovered in China by a team of American and Chinese scientists. ''Liaoceratops'' was much smaller than its later relatives, but offers a glimpse into the early evolution of this group of dinosaurs. Discoveries and naming ''Liaoceratops'' was discovered in the famous Liaoning Province of China, where several fossils of feathered dinosaurs have also been collected. The type species ''Liaoceratops yanzigouensis'' was in 2002 named and described by Xu Xing, Peter Makovicky, Wang Xiaolin, Mark Norell and You Hailu. The generic name is derived from Liaoning and the Greek ''keras'', "horn" and ''ops'', "face". The specific name refers to the town Yanzigou. The holotype IVPP V12738 has been found in the Yixian Formation dating from the Barremian. These beds have also yielded fossil ...
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Zuniceratops
''Zuniceratops'' ('Zuni-horned face') was a ceratopsian dinosaur from the mid Turonian of the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now New Mexico, United States. It lived about 10 million years earlier than the more familiar horned Ceratopsidae and provides an important window on their ancestry''.'' Description ''Zuniceratops'' measured about long. It probably weighed about , making it substantially smaller than most ceratopsids. The skull bears a well-developed pair of brow horns, similar to those of chasmosaurs and primitive centrosaurs, but the nose horn is absent. The brow horns are thought to have grown much larger with age. The snout is long and low, like that of chasmosaurines. The frill was a thin, broad, shield-like structure. It bore a pair of large holes but lacked epoccipital bones, as in ''Protoceratops''. Overall, the anatomy is much more primitive than that of the ceratopsids, but more advanced than in protoceratopsids. Discovery and species ''Zuniceratops'' w ...
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Turanoceratops
''Turanoceratops'' ("Turan horned face") is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. The fossils dated from the mid-late Turonian stage, roughly 90 million years ago. The skull bore a pair of long brow horns like those seen in the Ceratopsidae, although ''Turanoceratops'' appears to have been transitional between earlier ceratopsians and ceratopsids, and not a ceratopsid itself. Discovery and naming From the 1920s onwards, Soviet scientists discovered fragmentary fossils near Dzharakuduk in the district Navoi Viloyat, leading them to the conclusion that some ceratopsid must have been present. In 1988, paleontologist Lev Aleksandrovich Nesov based on these published the name ''Turanoceratops tardabilis'', but did not provide a description so that for the time being it remained a ''nomen nudum''. In 1989, Nesov, L.F. Kaznysjkina and Gennady Olegovich Cherepanov validly named the type species ''Turanoceratops tardabilis''. ...
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Ajkaceratops
''Ajkaceratops'' (pronounced "oi-ka-sera-tops") is a genus of ceratopsian dinosaur described in 2010. It lived during the Late Cretaceous in the western Tethyan archipelago, in what is now Europe. The type species, ''A. kozmai'', is most closely related to forms in east Asia, from where its ancestors may have migrated by island-hopping. The generic name, ''Ajkaceratops'', honors Ajka, a town in Hungary where the fossils were first discovered, combined with the given greek nomination ''ceratops'', meaning "horned face". The specific name, "''kozmai"'', honors Károly Kozma. Description The holotype, cataloged as MTM V2009.192.1, consists only of a few skull fragments, including rostral bones, fused premaxillae, and maxillae fragments (beak and jaw fragments). These fossils are kept in the Hungarian Natural History Museum, in Budapest. Although the fossils are fragmentary, the paper describing ''Ajkaceratops'' estimated a body length of . Other material includes four predentary ...
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Protoceratopsidae
Protoceratopsidae is a family of basal (primitive) ceratopsians from the Late Cretaceous period. Although ceratopsians have been found all over the world, protoceratopsids are only definitively known from Cretaceous strata in Asia, with most specimens found in China and Mongolia. As ceratopsians, protoceratopsids were herbivorous, with constantly replacing tooth batteries made for slicing through plants and a hooked beak for grabbing them. Protoceratopsids were small ceratopsians around 1-2.5 m in length. Their bony frill and horns were much smaller than more derived members of Ceratopsia, such as ceratopsids. Description Protoceratopsids were relatively small ceratopsians, averaging around 1-2.5 m in length from head to tail. Protoceratopsids have a frill and rostral bone characteristic of all ceratopsians. Their snout is particularly wedge-shaped with tall and narrow nostrils situated high on it. The antorbital fenestra is unusually small, and the antorbital fossa sits high on ...
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Leptoceratopsidae
Leptoceratopsidae is an extinct family of neoceratopsian dinosaurs from Asia, North America and Europe. Leptoceratopsids resembled, and were closely related to, other neoceratopsians, such as the families Protoceratopsidae and Ceratopsidae, but they were more primitive and generally smaller. Phylogeny Leptoceratopsidae was originally named by Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás in 1923 as a subfamily Leptoceratopsinae, and its type species is ''Leptoceratops gracilis''. Mackovicky, in 2001, defined it as a stem-based taxon and a family consisting of ''Leptoceratops gracilis'' and all species closer to ''Leptoceratops'' than to ''Triceratops horridus''.Makovicky, P.J. 2001. A ''Montanoceratops cerorhynchus'' (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) braincase from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, In: Tanke, D.H. & Carpenter, K. (Eds.). ''Mesozoic Vertebrate Life''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Pp. 243-262. The cladogram below follows the topologies from a 2015 analysis by Yiming ...
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Yamaceratops
''Yamaceratops'' is a genus of primitive ceratopsian that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now the Javkhlant Formation. Initially, the rocks where it was found in were thought to be from the Early Cretaceous, but the age was reevaluated in 2009. It was a relatively small dinosaur, reaching in length and in body mass. The type species, ''Yamaceratops dorngobiensis'', was described by P. J. Makovicky and M. A. Norell in September, 2006. The authors consider the animal to have had an intermediate phylogenetic position between ''Liaoceratops'' and '' Archaeoceratops'' within Neoceratopia. Examination of the frill of ''Yamaceratops'' has convinced the authors that the frill was not used for display, and that the fossils " intat a more complex evolutionary history for ceratopsian frills." The genus name refers to Yama, a Tibetan Buddhist deity; the species name to the Eastern Gobi. The holotype IGM 100/1315 consists of a partial skull; other material h ...
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Helioceratops
''Helioceratops'' is a genus of herbivorous neoceratopsian dinosaur from the Middle Cretaceous of China. Discovery and naming In 2000 and 2002, at the Liufangzi site of China's eastern Jilin province, excavations took place during which the jaws were found of a ceratopsian new to science. The type species ''Helioceratops brachygnathus'' was named and described in 2009 by Jin Liyong, Chen Jun, Zan Shuqin and Pascal Godefroit. The generic name means "sun horned face" from the Greek ''helios'', "sun", ''keras'', "horn" and ''ops'', "face". The reference is that the Sun rises in the East and ceratopsians also "rose" in the East; i.e. they originated in the Orient. The name also refers to a close relationship with '' Auroraceratops'', the "dawn ceratopian". The specific name means "short jaw" from the Greek βραχύς, ''brachys'' and γνάθος, ''gnathos'', in reference to the distinguishing short lower jaw. ''Helioceratops'' was discovered in a layer of the Quantou Forma ...
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Archaeoceratops
''Archaeoceratops'', meaning "ancient horned face", is a genus of basal neoceratopsian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian stage) of north central China. It appears to have been bipedal and quite small, reaching in length and in body mass. It had a comparatively large head but no horns, possessing only a small bony frill projecting from the back of its head. Discovery and species Two specimens were found in the Middle Gray Unit of the Xinminbao Group, Gongpoquan Basin of the Mazong Shan area of Gansu Province, north central China. The type species, ''A. oshimai'', was named by Dong Zhiming and Azuma in 1997. It is the first basal neoceratopsian discovered in this area. The type specimen, IVPP V11114, consists of a partially complete skeleton including skull, caudal vertebrae, pelvis, and most of a hind foot. The second specimen (paratype), IVPP V11115, consists of an incomplete skeleton with a relatively well preserved caudal series, a partial hind limb, and a co ...
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Serendipaceratops
''Serendipaceratops'' (meaning "serendipitous horned face") is a genus of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaur, possibly an ankylosaur, from the early Cretaceous Period of Australia. The type species, ''S. arthurcclarkei'', was named in 2003. Discovery and species The first known bone from ''Serendipaceratops'', an ulna (lower arm bone), was in 1993 discovered in Australia near Kilcunda, on the south-east coast of Victoria. The find took place during the "Dinosaur Cove" project, uncovering remains at the basis of a cliff face at the shoreline; the fossil was excavated in the "Arch", a small area of sea-floor protected from the waves by a dam. In 2003, the type species ''Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei'' was named and described by Tom Rich and Patricia Vickers-Rich.T. Rich and P. Vickers-Rich. 2003. Protoceratopsian? ulnae from Australia. ''Records of the Queen Victoria Museum Launceston'' 113:1-12 Initially, the discoverers had not considered the possibility that the fossil migh ...
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