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Udanoceratops

Kurzanov, 1992 oo-DAHN-o-SER-a-tops

Named for the Üüden Sair (Udan Sayr) locality in Mongolia where the holotype was found, combined with Greek 'keras' meaning 'horn' and 'ops' meaning 'face'.

83.6–72.2 million years ago Campanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Udanoceratops is a genus of large leptoceratopsid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period of Mongolia. The holotype specimen, the partial skeleton of an adult with its bones encapsulated in calcium carbonate, was discovered in the 1980s as part of the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition, and was subsequently transported to the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1992, it was described by paleontologist Sergei Kurzanov. The sole species of Udanoceratops, also the type species, is Udanoceratops tschizhovi, named after a colleague of Kurzanov, D. O. Tschizhov. Additional remains have been assigned to Udanoceratops, though these may be misattributions.

Species

Udanoceratops tschizhovi Kurzanov, 1992

Type species

Named for D. O. Tschizhov of the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who was credited with the discovery of the specimen.

Holotype
PIN 3907/11 , Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
Horizon
Djadokhta Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
Üüden Sair, Ömnögovi, Mongolia

References

  1. Kurzanov, S. M. (1992). A gigantic protoceratopsid from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. Paleontological Journal 26(3): 103-116. kurzanov1992a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the appearance features.

    jones2026a
  3. Handa, N.; Watabe, M.; Tsogtbaatar, K. (2012). New specimens of Protoceratops (Dinosauria: Neoceratopsia) from the Upper Cretaceous in Udyn Sayr, southern Gobi area, Mongolia. Paleontological Research 16(3): 179-198. doi:10.2517/1342-8144-16.3.179

    Assigns the Üüden Sair beds to the Djadokhta Formation, Campanian, on their lithology and on the Protoceratops and Pinacosaurus recovered with them.

    handa2012a
  4. Rougier, G. W.; Sheth, A. S.; Spurlin, B. K.; Bolortsetseg, M.; Novacek, M. J. (2016). Craniodental anatomy of a new Late Cretaceous multituberculate mammal from Udan Sayr, Mongolia. Palaeontologia Polonica 67: 197-248.

    Reaches the same assignment from the sedimentology, names Ömnögovi as the province, and records that Mongolian law restricts precise coordinates for the locality to qualified researchers.

    rougier2016a