Open Paleo

Auroraceratops

You et al., 2005 a-RAW-ruh-SEH-ruh-tops

From Latin aurora meaning 'dawn' and Greek keras/ceratops meaning 'horned face'. Full meaning: 'dawn horned face', referring to its status as an early ceratopsian and also honoring Dawn Dodson.

113.2–100.5 million years ago Albian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Auroraceratops, meaning "dawn horned face", is a genus of bipedal basal neoceratopsian dinosaur, from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian age) of north central China. 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 paleontologists who described it.

Diagnosis

  1. Considerable breadth of the nasals
  2. Fungiform expansion of the dorsal end of the lacrimal
  3. Highly developed rugosity of the jugal, dentary, and surangular
  4. Inflated, striated premaxillary teeth
  5. Horizontal caudally directed processes of the pterygoid covering basisphenoid and basipterygoid articulation ventrally, terminating as a pair of short autapomorphic horizontal prongs

Species

Auroraceratops rugosus You et al., 2005

Type species

Named for the rugose, or rough, texturing of the skull and jaws of the holotype specimen.

Holotype
CAGS IG-2004-VD-001 , Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences
Material
Nearly complete skull and jaws
Horizon
Zhonggou Formation, Albian, Early Cretaceous , 113.2–100.5 million years ago
Locality
Gongpoquan Basin, Gansu, China You and colleagues (2018) place the holotype-bearing red beds of the Gongpoquan Basin at "the beginning of the Zhonggou Formation" as a working hypothesis, correlating them with the Yujingzi red beds through the Auroraceratops and therizinosaurs the two share.

References

  1. You, H.; Li, D.; Ji, Q.; Lamanna, M. C.; Dodson, P. (2005). On a new genus of basal neoceratopsian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Gansu Province, China. Acta Geologica Sinica 79(5): 593-597. you2005b
  2. You, H.; Morschhauser, E. M.; Li, D.; Dodson, P. (2018). Introducing the Mazongshan Dinosaur Fauna. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 38(sup1): 1-11. Taylor and Francis. doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1396995 you2018a