Liaoceratops

Liaoceratops
Speculative reconstruction of Liaoceratops
Temporal occurrence
Lower Cretaceous ( Barremium )
130.7 to 126.3 million years
Locations
China
Systematics
Pelvic dinosaur (Ornithischia) Cerapoda Marginocephalia Ceratopsia Neoceratopsia Liaoceratops
Scientific name
Liaoceratops
Xu , Makovicky , Wang, Norell & You, 2002
Art
L. yanzigouensis Xu et al., 2002

Liaoceratops is a genus of the bird pelvic dinosaur (Ornithischia) from the group of Ceratopsia , within which it iscountedamong the primitive representatives of the Neoceratopsia .

features

From liaoceratops far only two skulls are known, one of an adult and a young one animal. A horn-like outgrowth under each eye was characteristic of the genus. Some features reveal the primeval character: The neck shield, consisting of parietal and scaled bones , which was well developed in the later Ceratopsia, was very small in him and the rostral bone (at the tip of the upper jaw) was not yet keel-shaped in this dinosaur. As with all Ceratopsia, this bone together with the Praedentale formed the parrot's beak typical of this group of dinosaurs. Like all representatives of this group, Liaoceratops was herbivorous. Nothing is known about the rest of the physique; like many primitive Neoceratopsia, it may have been moving mainly biped (two-legged).

Discovery and naming

The fossil remains of Liaoceratops were found in the Yixian Formation in Liaoning Province , China , which is also known for its feathered dinosaurs , and was first described by Xu, Makovicky, Wang, Norell and You in 2002 . The name is derived from Liao, the abbreviation of the find province, and the Greek keratops (= "horn face"), a common part of the Ceratopsia name. The only species and type species described is L. yanzigouensis .

Systematics and dating

Cladistic studies of the first descriptors classify Liaoceratops as the most primitive representatives of Neoceratopsia . The finds are dated in the Lower Cretaceous ( Barremium ) to an age of 131 to 126 million years. Thus, he is also one of the oldest undisputed Neoceratopsians, a diverse group of dinosaurs that is otherwise mostly only documented from the Upper Cretaceous.

literature

• You Hailu, Peter Dodson : Basal Ceratopsia. In: David B. Weishampel , Peter Dodson, Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria . 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 478-493, digitized version (PDF; 807.25 kB) .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , online .