[D] Xuanhuaceratops niei [sG] [T]
Describer
Zhao, Cheng, Xu, and Makovicky, 2006
Time
Jurassic Late
Classification
Ornithischia Genasauria Cerapoda Marginocephalia Ceratopia Neoceratopia
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Houcheng Formation, Hebei Province, China
Info
Genus - Typespecies - Skull
Xuanhuaceratops niei (Zhao, Cheng, Xu, and Makovicky, 2006) > Xuanhuasaurus niei (Zhao, 1985)
Based on four fragmentary specimens. Xuanhuaceratops shares a number of derived features with, and is closely related to, another probable Late Juarassic ceratopsian Chaoyangsaurus youngi, from which it differs in only possessing a single premaxillary tooth as well as in details of quadrate and scapular morphology. The authors hypothesize that these two taxa represent a primitive lineage of Ceratopsia that is basal to the psittacosauridneoceratopsian diversity, and propose the name Chaoyangsauridae for it.
Holotype
IVPP 12722, a partial skeleton comprising parts of both premaxillae; articulated sections of the left maxilla, jugal and postorbital; the left frontal; a piece of the right postorbital; the right quadratojugal; both quadrates; parts of both pterygoids and the right ectopterygoid; glenoid regions of both mandibles; isolated section of left ungular; most of the right dentary; isolated teeth; elements from all sections of the vertebral column; the left scapulacoracoid; parts of both humeri\\\'partial left ischium; and parts of the right hindlimb including femur, sections of tibia and metatarsus.
Refered material
IVPP V14527 and V14528; Fragmentary skull and postcranial bones and teeth of two differently sized individuals surface collected together near the middle of the Houcheng Formation near Yanjiagou / Shisegou in summer of 2003.
Horizon and locality
Houcheng Formation, probably Late Jurassic, Yanjiagou, Xuanhua Area, Hebei Province, China. The Houcheng Formation is generally considered to be Late Jurassic in age and laterally equivalent to the Tuchengzi Formation (Wang, 1998). Radiometric dating (Swisher et al., 2002) has shown that the upper part of the Tuchengzi dates to the earliest part of the Cretaceous.
Etymology
The generic name is derived from \\\"Xuanhua\\\", the geographic region that includes the type locality, and the suffix \\\"ceratops\\\", from Greek for \\\"horned face\\\", as commonly used for horned dinosaur names; the species name honors Nie Rongzhen who kindly provided the authors with the specimen.