Magnirostris

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Magnirostris

Skull of Magnirostris dodsoni, on display at the Beijing Museum of Natural History.

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Ornithischia
Infraorder:	Ceratopsia
Family:	Protoceratopsidae
Genus:	Magnirostris You and Dong, 2003

Species

M. dodsoni You and Dong, 2003 (type)

Magnirostris, from the latin "magnus" 'large' and "rostrum" 'beak', is the name given to a genus of dinosaur from the Late Campanian epoch in the Late Cretaceous. It was a ceratopsian which lived in Inner Mongolia in China. It is distinguished from other protoceratopsids by its large beak (hence the name) and incipient orbital horn cores.

[edit] Discovery and Species

Magnirostris dodsoni was described by You and Dong Zhiming in 2003, from a near-complete skull collected from the Bayan Mandahu area in Inner Mongolia, China by the Sino-Canadian Dinosaur Project. It was named after Peter Dodson, a palaeontologist.

It may be only a variant of Bagaceratops, and the incipient horn cores may be an artifact of preservation.^[1]

[edit] References

^ Makovicky, Peter J.; and Norell, Mark A. (2006). "Yamaceratops dorngobiensis, a new primitive ceratopsian (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Cretaceous of Mongolia" (pdf). American Museum Novitates 3530: 1–42. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2006)3530[1:YDANPC]2.0.CO;2.

You H.-L. & Dong Zhiming (2003). "A new protoceratopsid (Dinosauria: Neoceratopsia) from the Late Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia, China.". Acta Geologica Sinica (English edition) 77: 299–303.