Yamaceratops

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Yamaceratops Fossil range: Early Cretaceous
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Superorder: Dinosauria Order: Ornithischia Suborder: Marginocephalia Infraorder: Ceratopsia Genus: Yamaceratops Species: Y. dorngobiensis
Binomial name
Yamaceratops dorngobiensis Makovicky & Norell, 2006

Yamaceratops is the name given to a genus of dinosaur from the Cretaceous. It was a primitive ceratopsian which lived in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.

The type species, Yamaceratops dorngobiensis, was described by P.J. Makovicky and M.A. Norell in September, 2006.^[1] The authors consider the animal to have had an intermediate phylogenetic position between Liaoceratops and Archaeoceratops within Neoceratopia. Examination of the frill of Yamaceratops has convinced the authors that the frill was not used for display, and that the fossils "[hint] at a more complex evolutionary history for ceratopsian frills."

The genus name refers to Yama, the species name to the Eastern Gobi. The holotype IGM 100/1315 consists of a partial skull; also other material has been found in 2002 and 2003.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Dinosaur Mailing List announcement of the description (contains full abstract of the paper)
• Description and Image (in German)