[D] Prenoceratops pieganensis [Su] [sG] [T]
Describer
Chinnery, 2004
Time
Cretaceous Late Campanian
Classification
Ornithischia Genasauria Cerapoda Marginocephalia Ceratopia Neoceratopia
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Two Medicine Formation, Montana, US
Info
Genus - Typespecies - Skull
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This material represents the only bone-bed deposition of a basal neoceratopsian currently known, and in addition is almost entirely disarticulated allowing for a more thorough understanding of basal neoceratopsian cranial morphology. The new taxon is characterized by a lower, more sloping head than in Leptoceratops, with a nasal that is pinched caudally, a wide, triangular jugal, extremely gracile surangular, and reduced articular among other autapomorphies. A preliminary cladistic analysis unites Prenoceratops firmly with the other North American basal neoceratopsians (and one Asian taxon) in the clade [Leptoceratopsidae].