''Ferganocephale'' is a dubious genus of neornithischian

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

. It was from the Middle Jurassic

Balabansai Svita The Balabansai Formation (sometimes transcribed Balabansay, also known as Balabansai Svita) is a geological formation in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan whose strata date back to the Bathonian and Callovian stages of the Middle Jurassic. Di ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

. The type and only species is ''F. adenticulatum''.

Classification

''Ferganocephale'' was originally classified in the group Pachycephalosauridae. It would then be one of the oldest known pachycephalosaurids. Robert M. Sullivan however, in 2006 disputed the pachycephalosaur classification, finding "few of the features ..are characteristic of pachycephalosaur teeth," citing the lack of serrations on the teeth, and concludes the specimens are "too incomplete for identification". He considers the

taxon In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

a '' nomen dubium'', and a non-pachycephalosaurid ornithischian.

Discovery and naming

The type species, ''Ferganocephale adenticulatum'', was first described by Averianov, Martin, and Bakirov in 2005, and is based solely on teeth from the

Fergana Valley The Fergana Valley (; ; ) in Central Asia lies mainly in eastern Uzbekistan, but also extends into southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan. Divided into three republics of the former Soviet Union, the valley is ethnically diverse and in the ...

, dating to the

Callovian In the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 166.1 ± 4.0 Ma (million years ago) and 163.5 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the ...

. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

is ZIN PH 34/42, an adult unworn tooth. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

is ''Ferganocephale adenticulatum''. The genus name combines the name of location it was found with the Greek ''kephale'', "head", a reference to the presumed pachycephalosaurian affinities. The specific name means "without tooth serrations".

References

Ornithischian genera Middle Jurassic dinosaurs of Asia Fossils of Kyrgyzstan Fossil taxa described in 2005 Nomina dubia {{pachycephalosaur-stub

Classification

Discovery and naming

See also

References