Open Paleo

Asiaceratops

Nessov et al., 1989 AY-zha-SER-a-tops Disputed

From Asia (the continent where the genus was found) + Greek keras (κέρας) meaning 'horn' + ops (ὤψ) meaning 'face'; overall meaning 'Asian horned face'.

100.5–93.9 million years ago Cenomanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Asiaceratops is a genus of small herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from Uzbekistan. Nessov and colleagues (1989) also tentatively referred Microceratops sulcidens Bohlin, 1953, from China, to the genus.

Under dispute

Sereno (2000) regards Asiaceratops salsopaludalis as a nomen dubium, finding no autapomorphies in the holotype maxilla or the referred material. Makovicky and Norell (2006), Morschhauser and colleagues (2018) and Son and colleagues (2022) include it in phylogenetic analyses provisionally, assuming that all the referred material belongs to one taxon. Those analyses place it either as the earliest-diverging leptoceratopsid (Makovicky and Norell, 2006; Farke and colleagues, 2014; He and colleagues, 2015; Arbour and Evans, 2019) or among basal neoceratopsians outside Leptoceratopsidae (Chinnery, 2004; Morschhauser and colleagues, 2018; Son and colleagues, 2022).

Species

Asiaceratops salsopaludalis Nessov et al., 1989 Disputed

Type species

From Latin 'salsopaludalis' meaning 'of the salt marsh', referring to the environment of the Khodzhakul Formation in Uzbekistan where the holotype was found.

Holotype
CCMGE 9/12457 , F.N. Chernyshev Central Museum of Geological Exploration
Horizon
upper Khodzhakul Formation, Cenomanian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–93.9 million years ago
Locality
SH-25, Khodzhakulsai, Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan

References

  1. Nessov, L. A.; Kaznyshkina, L. F.; Cherepanov, G. O. (1989). [Mesozoic ceratopsian dinosaurs and crocodiles of central Asia]. Theoretical and Applied Aspects of Modern Paleontology (Bogdanova, T. N.; Khozatsky, L. I., eds.) 144-154. Nauka, Leningrad. nessov1989a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length estimate.

    jones2026a
  3. Sereno, P. C. (2000). The fossil record, systematics and evolution of pachycephalosaurs and ceratopsians from Asia. The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia (Benton, M. J.; Shishkin, M. A.; Unwin, D. M.; Kurochkin, E. N., eds.) 480-516. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Finds no autapomorphies in the holotype maxilla or referred material and regards Asiaceratops as a nomen dubium.

    sereno2000a
  4. Bohlin, B. (1953). VI. Vertebrate Palaeontology 6. Fossil reptiles from Mongolia and Kansu. Reports from the Scientific Expedition to the North-western Provinces of China under Leadership of Dr. Sven Hedin. The Sino-Swedish Expedition Publication 37: 1-113.

    Names Microceratops sulcidens on teeth from Chia-yü-kuan, Kansu.

    bohlin1953a
  5. Chinnery, B. (2004). Description of Prenoceratops pieganensis gen. et sp. nov. (Dinosauria: Neoceratopsia) from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24(3): 572-590. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2004)024[0572:doppge]2.0.co;2

    Recovers Asiaceratops with Chaoyangsaurus within Neoceratopsia, outside Leptoceratopsidae.

    chinnery2004a
  6. Makovicky, P. J.; Norell, M. A. (2006). Yamaceratops dorngobiensis, a New Primitive Ceratopsian (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Cretaceous of Mongolia. American Museum Novitates 3530: 1-42. American Museum of Natural History (BioOne sponsored). doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2006)3530[1:ydanpc]2.0.co;2

    Includes it provisionally, assuming the referred material belongs to one taxon; recovers it as the sister of the other leptoceratopsids.

    makovicky2006a
  7. Farke, A. A.; Maxwell, W. D.; Cifelli, R. L.; Wedel, M. J. (2014). A Ceratopsian Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Western North America, and the Biogeography of Neoceratopsia. PLoS ONE 9(12): e112055. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0112055

    Recovers it as the earliest-diverging leptoceratopsid.

    farke2014a
  8. He, Y.; Makovicky, P. J.; Wang, K.; Chen, S.; Sullivan, C.; Han, F.; Xu, X. (2015). A new leptoceratopsid (Ornithischia, Ceratopsia) with a unique ischium from the Upper Cretaceous of Shandong Province, China. PLOS ONE 10(12): e0144148. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144148

    Recovers it as the earliest-diverging leptoceratopsid.

    he2015a
  9. Morschhauser, E. M.; You, H.; Li, D.; Dodson, P. (2018). Phylogenetic history of Auroraceratops rugosus (Ceratopsia: Ornithischia) from the Lower Cretaceous of Gansu Province, China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 38(sup1): 117-147. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/02724634.2018.1509866

    Includes it provisionally and recovers it in a pectinate series of basal neoceratopsians, not as a leptoceratopsid.

    morschhauser2018a
  10. Arbour, V. M.; Evans, D. C. (2019). A new leptoceratopsid dinosaur from Maastrichtian-aged deposits of the Sustut Basin, northern British Columbia, Canada. PeerJ 7: e7926. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.7926

    Recovers it as the earliest-diverging leptoceratopsid; with the Morschhauser matrix, it falls in a neoceratopsian polytomy.

    arbour2019a
  11. Son, M.; Lee, Y. N.; Zorigt, B.; Kobayashi, Y.; Park, J. Y.; Lee, S.; Kim, S. H.; Lee, K. Y. (2022). A new juvenile Yamaceratops (Dinosauria, Ceratopsia) from the Javkhlant Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Mongolia. PeerJ 10: e13176. doi:10.7717/peerj.13176

    Recovers it among basal neoceratopsians, more derived than Liaoceratops and more basal than Archaeoceratops.

    son2022a