Zhuchengceratops

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Ordo: †Ornithischia
Cladus: †Genasauria
Cladus: †Neornithischia
Cladus: †Cerapoda
Cladus: †Marginocephalia
Subordo: †Ceratopsia
Cladus: †Neoceratopsia

Familia: †Leptoceratopsidae
Genus: Zhuchengceratops
Species: Z. inexpectus
Name

Zhuchengceratops Xu et al., 2010
References

Xing Xu, Kebai Wang, Xijin Zhao, Corwin Sullivan, Shuqing Chen 2010. A New Leptoceratopsid (Ornithischia: Ceratopsia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shandong, China and Its Implications for Neoceratopsian Evolution. PLoS ONE, 5(11): e13835. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013835. Archived from the original on 2014-10-07.

Vernacular names
中文: 諸城角龍

Zhuchengceratops is a genus of extinct leptoceratopsid ceratopsian that lived during the Upper Cretaceous of modern-day China. It was first described in 2010, by Xu et al., who created the binomial Zhuchengceratops inexpectus. The name is derived from the location of Zhucheng, the Latinized-Greek ceratops, or "horned face", and the unexpected articulated nature of the holotype. The skeleton was found in the Wangshi Group, which is of Late Cretaceous age, and most fossils are only disarticulated bones of Shantungosaurus.

Zhuchengceratops shares many features with Leptoceratopsidae as well as other ceratopsian groups such as Ceratopsidae. The overall size of the taxon was similar to Leptoceratops, although slightly larger. Zhuchengceratops was analyzed to be in a group with Leptoceratops and Udanoceratops, although internal relationships of this triplet were unresolved.
Discovery and naming
Fossil skull and mandible

Zhuchengceratops is a derived leptoceratopsid ceratopsian which lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Kugou, Zhucheng County, China. It is known from a partial articulated skeleton including vertebrae, ribs, teeth, and parts of the skull and mandibles. The fossils were recovered from the Wangshi Group, of the Late Cretaceous.[1] This genus was named by Xing Xu, Kebai Wang, Xijin Zhao, Corwin Sullivan and Shuqing Chen in 2010, and the type species is Zhuchengceratops inexpectus. The genus name was chosen for the location of Zhucheng, where the holotype was found, and the Latinized-Greek ceraptops, meaning "horned face". They chose the species name inexpectus to refer to the unexpected discovery of the articulated skeleton.[1]

The recovered specimen of Zhuchengceratops likely represents an adult, measuring 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in length and 175 kg (386 lb) in body mass.[2] Zhuchengceratops had a particularly massive and deep 50 cm-long mandible that is also thin transversely. This and a number of other autapomorphies unique to the genus lend it significance for increasing the morphological disparity and the taxonomic diversity of the Leptoceratopsidae. As the third leptoceratopsid from Asia, this find exhibits the coexistence and radiation of two closely related clades, whose differences in jaw and tooth adaptation may represent different feeding strategies.[1]
See also

Timeline of ceratopsian research

References

Xing Xu; Kebai Wang; Xijin Zhao; Corwin Sullivan; Shuqing Chen (2010). "A New Leptoceratopsid (Ornithischia: Ceratopsia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shandong, China and Its Implications for Neoceratopsian Evolution". PLOS ONE. 5 (11): e13835. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...513835X. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013835. PMC 2973951. PMID 21079798.
Paul, Gregory S. (2016). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press. p. 279. ISBN 978-1-78684-190-2. OCLC 985402380.