''Auroraceratops'', meaning "dawn horned face", is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of bipedal basal neoceratopsian

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

, from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145& ...

( Aptian age) of north central

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. The etymology of the generic name refers to its status as an early ceratopsian and also to Dawn Dodson, wife of Peter Dodson, one of the

palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...

s who described it.

Discovery and species

The first specimen was found in the

Xinminpu Group The Xīnmínbǎo Group () is a group of geological formations in north central China. They occur across a large depression between the Altai mountains of Mongolia to the north and the Qilian mountains of the Qinghai Plateau to the south, in the ...

, Gongpoquan Basin of the

Mazong Shan The Mǎzōng Shān () is a minor mountain range of Subei Mongol Autonomous County, Jiuquan, northern Gansu, China, between the Altay range to the north and the Qilian range to the south. The Mǎzōng Shān peak rises to 2584 m. Climate Mount ...

area of

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibe ...

Province, north central China. As of 2021, fossils from more than 80 more individuals have been found, including complete skeletons. The specific descriptor, "''rugosus''",

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "rough", refers to the various rugose areas on the surface of both

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...

and jaw, namely the wrinkled expansion of the lacrimal bone distinctive of this animal. ''Auroraceratops'' is the second basal neoceratopsian to be found in the Mazong Shan area, after ''Archaeoceratops''. The type specimen, IG-2004-VD-001, consists of a nearly complete subadult skull lacking the rostral bone and parietal crest.

Description

Though most other neoceratopsians are characterized by a long, narrow snout, ''Auroraceratops'' has a shorter wider one. The skull itself is rather flat and wide. The

premaxilla The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammal has ...

e have at least two pairs of striated fang-like teeth. Paired rugose areas, very probably covered in

keratin Keratin () is one of a family of structural fibrous proteins also known as ''scleroproteins''. Alpha-keratin (α-keratin) is a type of keratin found in vertebrates. It is the key structural material making up Scale (anatomy), scales, hair, Nail ...

in life, are in front of the eyes and on the jugal with corresponding areas on the lower jaw. These roughened knobs were likely to have been used for inter- and intra-specific interactions. While they would not have been much use as a physical defense against predators, another possible function for these structures would be in pushing or butting contests between members of the same species either for mating rights or social disputes. ''Auroraceratops'' is a rather derived moderate-sized basal neoceratopsian that adds diversity to that

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...

, displaying skull features not present in ''

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 ...

'' or '' Liaoceratops''. A detailed analysis of the post-cranial skeleton published in 2019 showed that the animal would have walked bipedally and had an estimated length of , hip height of and body mass of .

References

Ceratopsians Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia Aptian life Paleontology in Gansu Fossils of South Korea Fossil taxa described in 2005 Taxa named by Peter Dodson Ornithischian genera {{ceratopsian-stub

Discovery and species

Description

See also

References