Phylum Chordata | Class Sauropsida Suborder Marginocephalia Family ?Archaeoceratopsidae Rank Genus | |
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Similar Xuanhuaceratops, Liaoceratops, Lamaceratops, Auroraceratops, Bainoceratops | ||
Yamaceratops is a genus of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It was a primitive ceratopsian which lived in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. Initially, the rocks it was found in were thought to be from the Early Cretaceous, but the age was reevaluted in 2009.
The type species, Yamaceratops dorngobiensis, was described by P. J. Makovicky and M. A. Norell in September, 2006. The authors consider the animal to have had an intermediate phylogenetic position between Liaoceratops and Archaeoceratops within Neoceratopia. Examination of the frill of Yamaceratops has convinced the authors that the frill was not used for display, and that the fossils "[hint] at a more complex evolutionary history for ceratopsian frills."
The genus name refers to Yama, a Tibetan Buddhist deity; the species name to the Eastern Gobi. The holotype IGM 100/1315 consists of a partial skull; other material has been found in 2002 and 2003 and has been ascribed to the genus.
A fossilized embryo found within an ornithischian eggshell from sediments where Yamaceratops is common may belong to this genus.
