| Notoceratops | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Holotype mandible | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dracohors |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Genus: | †Notoceratops Tapia, 1918 |
| Species: | †N. bonarellii |
| Binomial name | |
| †Notoceratops bonarellii Tapia, 1918 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Notoceratops (meaning "southern horned face") is adubiousgenus ofextinctornithischiandinosaur. The genus was described based on an incomplete, toothless leftdentary (now lost) from theLate Cretaceous ofPatagonia (inArgentina), probably dating to theCampanian orMaastrichtian. Initially classified as a putativeceratopsian found in theLago Colhué Huapi Formation, the lost fragmentary holotype precludes confident referral of this taxon within ornithischians, with some researchers suggesting that it belongs to ahadrosaur instead.
In 1918,palaeontologist Augusto Tapia (1893–1966) discovered the genusholotype. He also named thetype species,N. bonarellii (originally spelt asNotoceratops Bonarelli), in 1918.[1] The generic name is derived from Greeknotos, "the south",keras, "horn" andops, "face". Thespecific name honours Guido Bonarelli (1871-1951), who advised Tapia in his study of the find. By present conventions the epithet is spelledbonarellii, thus without a capital B. In many later publications the specific name is misspelled "bonarelli", with a single "i", from the incorrect assumption it would be derived from aLatinised "Bonarell~ius". The fossil, found near theLago Colhué Huapi inChubut, was eventually described byFriedrich von Huene in 1929,[2] but it has since been lost.[3]
Originally referred as aceratopsian by Tapia in 1918, it was later dismissed because no other members of that group were known from theSouthern Hemisphere. However, the 2003 discovery of another possible ceratopsian,Serendipaceratops, from Australia could change this view.[4]Notoceratops has since been considered anomen dubium and may have been ahadrosaur instead.[5] An analysis published by Tom Rich et al. (2014), which focused on the validity ofSerendipaceratops, also examined the published material fromNotoceratops and concluded that the holotype had ceratopsian features.[6]
