Hualianceratops
From Chinese hua (ornamental) and lian (face), combined with Greek ceratops (horned face); meaning 'ornamental-faced horned face'
Middle Jurassic and Late Jurassic stages
Hualianceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur that lived about 160 million years ago in the Late Jurassic epoch in what is now western China. The single species, H. wucaiwanensis was described in 2015. Its size has been compared to that of a spaniel.
Diagnosis
- Prominent caudodorsal process on infratemporal ramus of jugal
- Robust quadrate with expansive quadratojugal facet
- Transversely expanded rostral margin of quadrate above quadratojugal facet
- Prominent notch near ventral region of quadrate
- Deep and short dentary
- Strongly rugose sculpturing on lateral surface of dentary
Species
Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis Han et al., 2015
Type species
Named for the Wucaiwan region of Xinjiang, China, where the holotype was discovered.
- Holotype
- IVPP V18641 , Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
- Material
- Articulated right maxilla, jugal, postorbital and partial squamosal, right quadrate and partial quadratojugal, left partial jugal, quadratojugal and quadrate, left partial squamosal, most of mandible, and postcranial fragments including nearly complete left pes
- Horizon
- upper Shishugou Formation, Callovian–Oxfordian, Middle Jurassic–Late Jurassic , 165.3–154.8 million years ago
- Locality
- Wucaiwan locality, Xinjiang, China Han and colleagues (2015) place the holotype in the same part of the Shishugou as Yinlong, between tuffs dated 162.2 and 159.7 Ma, which on the ICS chart v2024/12 straddle the base of the Oxfordian.
References
- Han, F.; Forster, C. A.; Clark, J. M.; Xu, X. (2015). A new taxon of basal ceratopsian from China and the early evolution of Ceratopsia. PLOS ONE 10(12): e0143369. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0143369 han2015a