Archaeoceratops

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{{Taxobox
| name = Archaeoceratops
| fossil_range = Early Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous

The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...

| image = Archaeoceratops_BW.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| regnum = Animal

Animal

Animals are a major group of mostly multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously...

ia
| phylum = Chordata

Chordate

Chordates are animals which are either vertebrates or one of several closely related invertebrates. They are united by having, for at least some period of their life cycle, a notochord, a hollow dorsal nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, an endostyle, and a post-anal tail...

| classis = Sauropsida
| superordo = Dinosaur

Dinosaur

{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Taxobox|name = Dinosaurs|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|230|65|earliest=230|latest=0|PS=
Descendant taxon Aves survives to present.}}|image = field_dinos_2.jpg...

ia
| ordo = Ornithischia

Ornithischia

Ornithischia or Predentata is an extinct order of beaked, herbivorous dinosaurs. The name ornithischia is derived from the Greek ornitheos meaning 'of a bird' and ischion meaning 'hip joint'...

| subordo = Cerapoda

Cerapoda

Cerapoda is a clade or suborder of the order Ornithischia. They are the sister group of the Thyreophora within the clade Genasauria. Cerapods are united by having a thicker layer of enamel on the inside of their lower teeth...

| infraordo = Ceratopsia

Ceratopsia

Ceratopsia or Ceratopia is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs which thrived in what are now North America and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassic. Early members such as Psittacosaurus were small and bipedal...

| familia = Archaeoceratopsidae

Archaeoceratopsidae

The Archaeoceratopsidae constitutes a family of primitive ceratopsian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China.The group had features similar to the psittacosaurs and leptoceratopsians. They had small frills and barely any horns, only on the sides, and a bump on their snouts. This family...

| genus = Archaeoceratops
| genus_authority = Dong

Dong Zhiming

Dong Zhiming , from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, is one of China's leading paleontologists. He began working at the IVPP in 1962, learning from Yang Zhongjian who was director at the time...

 & Azuma (1997)
| species = A. oshimai
| binomial = Archaeoceratops oshimai
| binomial_authority = Dong & Azuma (1997)
}}
Archaeoceratops, meaning "ancient horned face", was a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...

 of basal

Basal (phylogenetics)

In phylogenetics, a basal clade is the earliest clade to branch in a larger clade; it appears at the base of a cladogram.A basal group forms an outgroup to the rest of the clade, such as in the following example:...

 neoceratopsian dinosaur

Dinosaur

{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Taxobox|name = Dinosaurs|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|230|65|earliest=230|latest=0|PS=
Descendant taxon Aves survives to present.}}|image = field_dinos_2.jpg...

 from the Early Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous

The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...

 (Aptian

Aptian

The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch or series and encompasses the time from 125.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 112.0 ± 1.0 Ma , approximately...

 stage

Faunal stage

In chronostratigraphy, a stage is a succession of rock strata laid down in an single age on the geologic timescale, which usually represents millions of years of deposition. A given stage of rock and the corresponding age of time will by convention have the same name, and the same boundaries.Rock...

) of north central China

China

China is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....

. It appears to have been bipedal and quite small (about 1 meter long) with a comparatively large head. Unlike many later ceratopsians it doesn't have any horns and has only a small bony frill projecting from the back of its head.

Discovery and Species

Two specimens were found in the Xinminbao Group

Xinminbao Group

The Xinminbao Group is a group of geological formations in north central China. They occur across a large depression between the Altai mountains of Mongolia to the north and the Qilian mountains of the Qinghai Plateau to the south, in the Gonpoquan and Suanjingze basins, and also in the...

, Gongpoquan Basin

Basin (geology)

A structural basin is a large-scale structural formation of rock strata formed by tectonic warping of previously flat lying strata. Structural basins are geological depressions, and are the inverse of domes. Some elongated structural basins are also known as synclines...

 of the Mazong Shan

Mazong Shan

The Mazong Shan is a minor mountain range of northern Gansu, between the Altay range to the north and the Qilian range to the south. The Mazong Shan peak rises to 2584 m....

 area of Gansu Province, north central China. The type species

Type species

In taxonomy, a type species is a technical phrase, involved in the application of formal names...

, A. oshimai, was named by Dong Zhiming

Dong Zhiming

Dong Zhiming , from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, is one of China's leading paleontologists. He began working at the IVPP in 1962, learning from Yang Zhongjian who was director at the time...

 and Azuma in 1997. It is the first basal neoceratopsian discovered in this area.

The type

Biological type

In biology, a type is that which fixes a name to a taxon. Depending on the nomenclature code which is applied to the organism in question, a type may be a specimen, culture, illustration, description or taxon....

 specimen, IVPP V11114, consists of a partially complete skeleton including skull, caudal series (sequence of tail vertebrae), pelvis

Pelvis

In human anatomy, the pelvis is the part of the trunk inferioposterior to the abdomen in the transition area between the trunk and the lower limbs...

, and most of a hind pes (foot).
The second specimen (paratype

Paratype

- Zoology :In zoological nomenclature, a paratype is officially defined as "Each specimen of a type series other than the holotype."In turn, this does depend on the definition of "type series." A type series is the material that was cited in the original publication of the new species or...

), IVPP V11115, consists of an incomplete skeleton with a relatively well preserved caudal series, a partial hind limb, and a completely preserved pes. It is slightly smaller than the holotype

Holotype

A holotype is one of several possible biological types. A type is what fixes a name to a taxon. A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described...

.

Classification

Archaeoceratops belonged to the Ceratopsia (the name is Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic , Classical , and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 for "horned face"), a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot

Parrot

Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most warm and tropical regions. The order is subdivded in three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Nestoridae...

-like beaks which thrived in North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...

 and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...

 during the Cretaceous Period. In 1997 Dong and Azuma placed it in a new family, Archaeoceratopsidae.

Diet

Archaeoceratops, like all ceratopsians, was a herbivore

Herbivore

A herbivore is an animal that is adapted to eat plants and not meat.Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism consumes principally autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria....

. During the Cretaceous, flowering plants were "geographically limited on the landscape", and so it is likely that this dinosaur fed on the predominant plants of the era: ferns, cycads and conifers. It would have used its sharp beak to bite off the leaves or needles and chop them up to be swallowed.