Cerasinops (meaning 'cherry face') was a small ceratopsian dinosaur. It lived during the Campanian of the late Cretaceous Period.[1] Its fossils have been found in Two Medicine Formation, in Montana. The type species of the genus Cerasinops is C. hodgskissi.
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Cerasinops was named and described by Brenda Chinnery and Jack Horner in 2007 from a specimen (MOR 300) almost 80% complete,[2] indicating a total body length of 2.5 m (8.2 ft) and a body mass of 175 kg (386 lb).[3] It belonged to the Ceratopsia (the name is Ancient Greek for 'horned face'), a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks that throve in North America and Asia during the Cretaceous Period. Within this group, it has been placed as a basal member of Neoceratopia, although the description is variable; at one point, it is explicitly assigned to Leptoceratopsidae, but in others, it is considered a sister taxon to Leptoceratopsidae, or as a neoceratopsian in general.[2]
See also
References
- ^ "Missing Link" Dinosaur Discovered in Montana, a National Geographic article; the photographed skeleton is actually from Montanoceratops.
- ^ a b Chinnery, Brenda J.; Horner, John R. (2007). "A new neoceratopsian dinosaur linking North American and Asian taxa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27 (3): 625–641. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[625:ANNDLN]2.0.CO;2.
- ^ Paul, Gregory S. (2016). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press. p. 278. ISBN 978-1-78684-190-2. OCLC 985402380.
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