Chaoyangsauridae is a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of
ceratopsia
Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassi ...
n
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 ...
s. They are among the earliest known
marginocephalia
Marginocephalia (/mär′jə-nō-sə-făl′ē-ən/ Latin: margin-head) is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs that is characterized by a bony shelf or margin at the back of the skull. These fringes were likely used for display. There are two clade ...
n dinosaurs, with remains dating to about 160 million years ago, during the Late
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
period. Members of this group had sharp beaks for snipping off leaves to eat, and a very small frill.
Four dinosaur genera, ''
Chaoyangsaurus'', ''
Xuanhuaceratops'', ''
Yinlong
''Yinlong'' (, meaning "hidden dragon") is a genus of basal ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period of central Asia. It was a small, primarily bipedal herbivore.
Discovery and species
A coalition of American and Chinese paleontologi ...
'' and ''
Hualianceratops'', are usually considered to belong to the Chaoyangsauridae.
All four animals are more primitive (or basal) than both ''
Psittacosaurus
''Psittacosaurus'' ( ; "parrot lizard") is a genus of extinct ceratopsian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of what is now Asia, existing between 126 and 101 million years ago. It is notable for being the most species-rich non-avian dinosaur ge ...
'' and
neoceratopsians.
See also
*
Timeline of ceratopsian research
This timeline of ceratopsian research is a chronological listing of events in the History of paleontology, history of paleontology focused on the ceratopsians, a group of herbivorous marginocephalian dinosaurs that evolved parrot-like beaks, bon ...
References
Ceratopsians
Prehistoric dinosaur families
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