Microceratus
Microceratus (meaning "small-horned") is a genus of small ceratopsian dinosaur that lived in the Cretaceous period in Asia. It walked on two legs, had short front arms, a characteristic ceratopsian frill and beak-like mouth, and was around 60 cm (2.0 ft) long.[1] It was one of the first ceratopsians, or horned dinosaurs, along with Psittacosaurus in Mongolia.
| Microceratus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, | |
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| Life restoration | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | †Ceratopsia |
| Infraorder: | †Neoceratopsia |
| Genus: | †Microceratus Mateus, 2008 |
| Species: | †M. gobiensis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Microceratus gobiensis (Bohlin, 1953) | |
| Other species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Microceratops Bohlin, 1953 (preoccupied by Seyrig, 1952) | |
Discovery
The type species, Microceratops gobiensis, was first described by Bohlin in 1953, and so was the second species, M. sulcidens, which may belong to Asiaceratops instead.[2] However, the generic name was already preoccupied by an ichneumon wasp (subfamily Cryptinae) with the same name. Though much of the material has since been reassigned to the genus Graciliceratops, a replacement name Microceratus was created by Mateus in 2008 for the type specimen.[3]
Classification
Microceratus belonged to the Ceratopsia (Ancient Greek for "horned face"), a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks which thrived in North America and Asia during the Cretaceous Period,[4] which ended roughly 66 million years ago. All ceratopsians became extinct at the end of this era.
Diet
Microceratus, like all ceratopsians, was a herbivore. 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 ceratopsian beak to bite off the leaves or needles.[5]
References
- Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012). Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages (PDF).
Winter 2011 Appendix
- Bohlin, B. (1953). Fossil reptiles from Mongolia and Kansu. Reports from the Scientific Expedition to the North-western Provinces of China under Leadership of Dr. Sven Hedin. VI. Vertebrate Palaeontology 6. The Sino-Swedish Expedition Publications 37, 113 pp
- Mateus, O (2008). "Two ornithischian dinosaurs renamed: Microceratops Bohlin 1953 and Diceratops Lull 1905". Journal of Paleontology. 82 (2): 423. doi:10.1666/07-069.1. S2CID 86021954.
- Barry Cox, Colin Harrison, R.J.G. Savage, and Brian Gardiner. (1999): The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures: A Visual Who's Who of Prehistoric Life. pg. 162 Simon & Schuster.
- David Norman. (2001): The Big Book Of Dinosaurs. pg. 317, 318, 319 and 326, Walcome books.
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