Liaoceratops
Name:
Liaoceratops
(Liaoning horned face).
Phonetic: Le-ow-seh-rah-tops.
Named By: X. Xu, P. J. Makovicky, X.
Wang, M. A. Norell & H. You -2002.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Cerapoda, Ceratopsia.
Species: L. yanzigouensis
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Holotype skull is 154 millimetres long.
Known locations: China, Liaoning Province -
Yixian Formation.
Time period: Barremian/Aptian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Holotype is of an almost
complete skull, partial skulls of two juvenile individuals also known.
Liaoceratops
was a fairly small neoceratopsian
dinosaur that is nonetheless a good
example of the ancestors of the later and larger ceratopsian
dinosaurs such as Triceratops
and Styracosaurus
that lived during the
late Cretaceous. Liaoceratops had the beginnings
of a neck frill,
though nothing like the same scale as later descendants, and no
horns were present. Also, while probably being mostly quadrupedal,
Liaoceratops would have still had an easy time
rearing up and walking
around on just their hind legs.
The
small size and relatively high agility meant that Liaoceratops
would
have had a good chance to evade larger predatory dinosaurs such as
tyrannosaurs
like Yutyrannus,
especially when roaming around
forests. Liaoceratops were eaten by predatory
dinosaurs however as a
skull of a juvenile (CAGS-IG-VD-002) shows that the braincase was
missing, probably removed by a predator. There are no shortage of
potential suspects for this as the Yixian Formation is known to contain
many predators such as
troodonts like Sinovenator and Sinusonasus,
dromaeosaurs
like Sinornithosaurus
and Tianyuraptor
as well as other
basal tyrannosaurs such as Dilong.
Further reading
- A ceratopsian dinosaur from China and the early evolution of
Ceratopsia - X. Xu, P. J. Makovicky, X. Wang, M.
A. Norell & H. You -2002.
- A new specimen of Liaoceratops yanzigouensis
(Dinosauria:
Neoceratopsia) from the Early Cretaceous of Liaoning Province,
China - H. You, K. Tanoue & P. Dodson -
2007.
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