Open Paleo

Mosaiceratops

Zheng et al., 2015 mo-ZAY-yih-SEH-ruh-tops

From Latin 'mosaicus' meaning 'mosaic' and Greek 'keras' meaning 'horn' and 'ops' meaning 'face', giving the meaning 'mosaic horned face', referring to the mix of features from basal neoceratopsians, psittacosaurids, and other basal ceratopsians.

93.9–72.2 million years ago Turonian–Campanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Mosaiceratops is a genus of ceratopsian dinosaur that lived in the upper Cretaceous Xiaguan Formation in what is now the Henan Province of China. It was described by Zheng, Jin, and Xu in 2015 as the type species Mosaiceratops azumai. Although phylogenetic analyses have found it to be the basalmost 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 the latter is not as primitive as previously thought.

Diagnosis

  1. Curved groove anterior to the premaxilla-maxilla contact
  2. Elongate anterior process of jugal with sub-parallel dorsal and ventral edges
  3. Two tubercles developed in the ventral border infraorbital ramus
  4. Distal end of dorsal ilium edge dorsoposteriorly directed
  5. Edentulous premaxilla
  6. Inverted T-shape jugal in lateral view
  7. T-shape postorbital with slender and elongate jugal and squamosal processes
  8. Basal tubera separated by a deep middle notch

Species

Mosaiceratops azumai Zheng et al., 2015

Type species

Named for Yoichi Azuma, the Japanese paleontologist who discovered Archaeoceratops.

Holotype
ZMNH M8856 , Zhejiang Museum of Natural History
Material
Partial skull and associated partial postcranial skeleton: three cervical vertebrae, three dorsal vertebrae, dorsal ribs, 18 caudal vertebrae, chevrons, right humerus, radius, both ilia, left ischium, both femora, both tibiae, left fibula, left astragalus, left calcaneum, metatarsals, phalanges, and undiagnostic remains.
Horizon
Xiaguan Formation, Turonian–Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 93.9–72.2 million years ago
Locality
West bank of the Tuanhe River, Henan, China

References

  1. 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(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/srep14190 zheng2015a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate, and the appearance features.

    jones2026a