''Asiaceratops'' (meaning "Asian horned face") is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of herbivorous

ceratopsian Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Asia and Europe, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Late Ju ...

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

. It lived during the Early-

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

. The type species, ''A. salsopaludalis'' is known from

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

, while ''A. sulcidens'' is known from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Discovery and naming

The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

, ''Asiaceratops salsopaludalis'', was formally described by Lev Nesov, L.F. Kaznyshkina and Gennadiy Olegovich Cherepanov in 1989. The generic name combines a reference to Asia with ''~ceratops'', "horned face". The specific name means "of the salt marsh" in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. In the same publication '' Microceratops sulcidens'' Bohlin 1953 was renamed into a second species of ''Asiaceratops'': ''Asiaceratops sulcidens''.L.A. Nessov, L F. Kaznyshkina, and G.O. Cherepanov. (1989). esozoic ceratopsian dinosaurs and crocodiles of central Asia In: Bogdanova and Khozatskii (eds.), ''Theoretical and Applied Aspects of Modern Palaeontology'' pp 144-154 The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

of ''Asiaceratops salsopaludalis'', CCMGE 9/12457, was found in Uzbekistan in a layer of the Khodzhakul Formation dating from the early

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Cretace ...

, about ninety-nine million years old. It consists of a part of a left

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

. Some other fragments were in 1989 referred to the species, among them teeth and a phalanx. In 1995 Nesov referred more material, from three Uzbek sites, mostly skull elements and a partial humerus, of individuals of different ages.L.A. Nessov, (1995), ''Dinozavri severnoi Yevrazii: Novye dannye o sostave kompleksov, ekologii i paleobiogeografii'', Institute for Scientific Research on the Earth's Crust, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 156 pp A second species, ''A. sulcidens'', was created to house '' Microceratus sulcidens''. Bohlin, B. (1953). ''Fossil reptiles from Mongolia and Kansu. Reports from the Scientific Expedition to the North-western Provinces of China under Leadership of Dr. Sven Hedin. VI. Vertebrate Palaeontology 6.'' The Sino-Swedish Expedition Publications 37, 113 pp It is known from remains discovered in

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

(

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

)-aged rocks located in

( Xinminpu Group) and

and the holotype of ''A. sulcidens'', no inventory number given, consists of two teeth, centra, an incomplete tibia, tarsals and left pes. ''Asiaceratops'' has often been considered a ''

nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium,'' it may be impossible to determine whether a ...

'', in view of the limited holotype material. A basicranium tentatively referred to ''Asiaceratops'' may show diagnostic characters of the taxon.

Classification

''Asiaceratops'' belonged to the

Ceratopsia Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Ancient Greek, Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivore, herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Asia and Europe, during the Cretaceous Period (geology), Period, although ance ...

(the name is

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

for "horned faces"), a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with

parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

-like beaks which thrived in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

during the Cretaceous Period, which ended roughly 66 million years ago. All ceratopsians became extinct at the end of this era. In 1995 Nesov assigned ''Asiaceratops'' to an Asiaceratopsinae of its own. Recent

cladistic Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is ...

analyses indicated, despite the presumed status as a ''nomen dubium'', a basal position in the

Leptoceratopsidae Leptoceratopsidae is an extinct family (biology), family of neoceratopsian dinosaurs from Asia, North America and possibly Europe. Leptoceratopsids resembled, and were closely related to, other neoceratopsians, such as the family (biology), famil ...

. More recent phylogenetic analyses consistently recover ''Asiaceratops'' as a basal

neoceratopsia Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Asia and Europe, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Late Ju ...

n outside Leptoceratopsidae.

Diet

''Asiaceratops'', like all ceratopsians, was a

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...

. During the Cretaceous, flowering plants were "geographically limited on the landscape", and so it is likely that this dinosaur fed on the predominant plants of the era: ferns, cycads, and conifers. It would have used its sharp ceratopsian beak to bite off the leaves or needles.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q134381 Leptoceratopsidae Dinosaur genera Cenomanian dinosaurs Dinosaurs of Uzbekistan Fossil taxa described in 1989

Discovery and naming

Classification

Diet

See also

References