Turanoceratops by Moondawg

Turanoceratops

Turanoceratops ("Turan horn face") is a genus of ceratopsian dinosaur. Its fossil remains were recovered from the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan, dating to the late Cretaceous Period (mid-late Turonian stage) about 90 million years ago. It may be the only member of the family Ceratopsidae known from outside North America, and be among the earliest ceratopsids, though this interpretation has been disputed.

Turanoceratops belonged to the Ceratopsia (the name is Greek for "horned face"), a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks which thrived in North America and Asia during the Cretaceous Period, which ended roughly 65 million years ago. All ceratopsians became extinct at the end of this era.

A 2009 study lead by Hans-Dieter Sues analysed additional fossil material of Turanoceratops and concluded that, contrary to expectations, it represented a true (though "transitional") member of the family Ceratopsidae. If correct, it would represent the only Asian ceratopsid, all other species being found in North America.

Some scientists, such as Andrew Farke, disagreed with Sues' findings. Farke and colleagues ran an independent phylogenetic analysis of the new Turanoceratops fossils and found that it was a close relative of Ceratopsidae (the immediate sister group) but was not a true member of that clade. Sues and Alexander Averianov criticised that analysis, arguing that Farke and colleagues misinterpreted or mis-coded some characteristics of the fossil in their analysis.

Turanoceratops, 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.