Auroraceratops
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| Auroraceratops
Conservation status: Fossil | ||||||||||||||
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Auroraceratops rugosus |
Auroraceratops rugosus is a basal neoceratopsian dinosaur, hailing from the Early Cretaceous Xinminpu Group beds located in Gansu Province, Northwestern China, that was described in late 2005 by You et al., the remains consisting of a nearly complete subadult cranium and lower jaws, lacking the rostral bone and parietal crest. The etymology of the generic name both refers to the character of this dinosaur as a dawn neoceratopsian and a mention made to Dawn Dodson, wife of Peter Dodson, while the specific epithet refers to the wrinkled expansion of the lacrimal bone. Though most other neoceratopsians are characterized by a long, narrow snout, Auroraceratops has a wider shorter one, the 20-cm-long skull itself being rather flat and wide. The premaxillae have at least two pairs of ornamented fangs. Paired rugose areas, very probably covered in keratin in life, are in front of the eyes and on the jugal with correspondent areas on the lower jaw. A. rugosus is a rather derived moderate-sized basal neoceratopsian that adds diversity to that clade, displaying skull features not present in Archaeoceratops and Liaoceratops.
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References
You Hailu, Li Daqing, Ji Qiang, Matthew C. Lamanna and Peter Dodson. (October 2005). On a New Genus of Basal Neoceratopsian Dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Gansu Province, China. Acta Geologica Sinica. Vol. 79 No. 5 pp. 593–597,