| Zhuchengceratops | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Life restoration | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Ceratopsia |
| Family: | †Leptoceratopsidae |
| Genus: | †Zhuchengceratops Xuet al.,2010 |
| Species: | †Z. inexpectus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Zhuchengceratops inexpectus Xuet al., 2010 | |
Zhuchengceratops is agenus ofextinctleptoceratopsidceratopsian that lived during theUpper Cretaceous of modern-dayChina. It was first described in 2010, by Xuet al., who created thebinomialZhuchengceratops inexpectus. The name is derived from the location of Zhucheng, the Latinized-Greekceratops, or "horned face", and the unexpected articulated nature of theholotype. The skeleton was found in theWangshi Group, which is of Late Cretaceous age, and most fossils are only disarticulated bones ofShantungosaurus.
Zhuchengceratops shares many features with Leptoceratopsidae as well as other ceratopsian groups such asCeratopsidae. The overall size of the taxon was similar toLeptoceratops, although slightly larger.Zhuchengceratops was analyzed to be in a group withLeptoceratops andUdanoceratops, although internal relationships of this triplet were unresolved.
Zhuchengceratops is a derivedleptoceratopsidceratopsian which lived during theLate Cretaceousperiod 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 theWangshi Group, of theLate Cretaceous.[2] This genus was named by Xing Xu, Kebai Wang, Xijin Zhao, Corwin Sullivan and Shuqing Chen in2010, and the type species isZhuchengceratops inexpectus. The genus name was chosen for the location of Zhucheng, where theholotype was found, and theLatinized-Greekceraptops, meaning "horned face". They chose the species nameinexpectus to refer to the unexpected discovery of the articulated skeleton.[2]
The recovered specimen ofZhuchengceratops likely represents an adult, measuring 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in length and 175 kg (386 lb) in body mass.[3]Zhuchengceratops had a particularly massive and deep 50 cm-long mandible that is also thin transversely. This and a number of otherautapomorphies unique to the genus lend it significance for increasing the morphological disparity and thetaxonomic 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.[2]
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