Kingdom Animalia Clade Dinosauria Clade †Cerapoda
Sereno, 1986 Higher classification Ornithischia | Phylum Chordata Clade †Neornithischia Scientific name Cerapoda Rank Suborder | |
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Lower classifications Ornithopod, Ceratopsia, Triceratops, Hadrosaurid, Iguanodon | ||
Cerapoda ("ceratopsians and ornithopods") is a clade of the dinosaur order Ornithischia.
ClassificationEdit
Cerapoda is divided into two groups: Ornithopoda ("bird-foot") and Marginocephalia ("fringed heads"). The later group includes the Pachycephalosauria ("thick-headed lizards") and Ceratopsia ("horned faces"). The following taxonomy follows Richard J. Butler, Paul Upchurch and David B. Norman, 2008 (and Butler et al., 2011) unless otherwise noted.
Cerapoda was first named by Sereno in 1986 and defined by him as "Parasaurolophus walkeri Parks, 1922, Triceratops horridus Marsh, 1889, their most recent common ancestor and all descendents". The cladogram below follows a 2011 analysis by paleontologists Richard J. Butler, Jin Liyong, Chen Jun and Pascal Godefroit.
In addition, there are some species which are difficult to classify in either the marginocephalian or ornithopod lineages, such as Albalophosaurus yamaguchiorum, which is considered Cerapoda incertae sedis (uncertain placement).