Mosaiceratops

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Mosaiceratops
Temporal range:
Ma
Known material
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: †Ornithischia
Clade: †Ceratopsia
Infraorder: †
Neoceratopsia
Genus: †Mosaiceratops
Zheng, Jin & Xu, 2015
Species:
†M. azumai
Binomial name
†Mosaiceratops azumai
Zheng, Jin & Xu, 2015

Mosaiceratops is a genus of

Henan Province of China
.

Although phylogenetic analyses have found Mosaiceratops to be the most basal neoceratopsian, the authors noted that several features in the premaxilla and nasal bones are shared with Psittacosaurus, indicating that neoceratopsians evolved premaxillary teeth twice and that Psittacosaurus is not as primitive as previously thought.[1]

Discovery

Cranial remains

On the westbank of the river Tuanhe in

Neixiang in Henan the skeleton was discovered of a small ceratopian. The fossil was prepared by Sheng Yiming and Yu Chaohe.[1]

In 2015, the type species Mosaiceratops azumai was named and described by Zheng Wenjie, Jin Xingsheng and Xu Xing. The generic name Mosaiceratops means "mosaic horned face", which refers to the mosaic of features normally found on basal neoceratopsians, psittacosaurids and other basal ceratopsians, especially the lack of premaxillary teeth. It is a combination of Latin mosaicus and Greek keras, "horn" and ops, "face". The specific name honours the Japanese paleontologist Yoichi Azuma, the discoverer of Archaeoceratops.[1] Mosaiceratops was one of eighteen dinosaur taxa from 2015 to be described in open access or free-to-read journals.[2]

The holotype, ZMNH M8856, was found in a layer of the Xiaguan Formation dating from the

dentary, surangular, angular bone, the anterior section of the prefrontal bone, and the anterior part of the nasal bone. The fossils are part of the collection of the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History.[1]

Description

Life restoration

Mosaiceratops was a relatively small dinosaur, reaching 1 m (3.3 ft) in length and 10 kg (22 lb) in body mass.

autapomorphic, unique derived traits: the presence of an evident groove between the premaxilla and the maxilla in lateral view; the elongation of the anterior part of the jugal having a parallel upper edge and lower edge; the main body of the jugal below the eye sockets bears two small bumps; in the ilium the extremity of the upper edge of the rear blade is pointed obliquely to above and behind.[1]

Mosaiceratops in size compared to a human being

Furthermore a unique combination is present of traits that in themselves are not unique. The premaxilla is

plesiomorphic, being shared with Psittacosaurus). The nasal bone has a front lower branch extending under the bony nostril. The jugal bone is formed as an inverted T. The postorbital is T-shaped with slender descending and rear branches. The inner branch of the squamosal bone points obliquely to the front and inside. The front branch of the squamosal is not forked. The basal tubers of the occiput are separated by a wide middle notch.[1]

More in general, the skull overall is more similar to advanced taxa like Aquilops or Liaoceratops.[1]

Classification

Zheng et al. (2015), the describers of Mosaiceratops, recovered the genus as the most basal known neoceratopsian, closer to

Psittacosauridae would be reinstated).[1] In their description of the postcrania of Yinlong, Han et al. (2018) noted that the external naris of Mosaiceratops was not as positioned as high as in Psittacosaurus, and recovered Mosaiceratops as more derived than Liaoceratops and Aquilops.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Zheng, W., Jin, X., & Xu, X. (2015). A psittacosaurid-like basal neoceratopsian from the Upper Cretaceous of central China and its implications for basal ceratopsian evolution. Scientific reports, 5. article number 14190: 1-9; doi:10.1038/srep14190
  2. ^ "The Open Access Dinosaurs of 2015". PLOS Paleo.
  3. OCLC 985402380
    .
  4. ^ Fenglu Han; Catherine A. Forster; Xing Xu; James M. Clark (2017). "Postcranial anatomy of Yinlong downsi (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) from the Upper Jurassic Shishugou Formation of China and the phylogeny of basal ornithischians". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. in press. doi:10.1080/14772019.2017.1369185.
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