Abstract
Turanoceratops tardabilis from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Bissekty Formation of Dzharakuduk, Uzbekistan, represents the first definite ceratopsid dinosaur recorded from Asia. Reexamination of the original and study of newly collected material indicate that Turanoceratops has well-developed supraorbital horns and apparently lacks a nasal horn. Turanoceratops is more derived than the more or less coeval Zuniceratops from the Moreno Hill Formation of New Mexico in the presence of double-rooted teeth and of two or three teeth in each vertical dental file.
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Acknowledgments
Fieldwork for this study was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation (EAR-9804771 and 0207004) and National Geographic Society (5901-97 and 6281-98) to J. D. Archibald and H.-D.S. and US Civilian Research and Development Foundation grant RUB1-2860-ST-07 to A.A. and J. D. Archibald. We thank the National Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, especially D. A. Azimov, director of the Institute of Zoology, for continued collaboration and assistance. M. J. Ryan and an anonymous reviewer provided helpful suggestions on a draft of the manuscript.
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Sues, HD., Averianov, A. Turanoceratops tardabilis—the first ceratopsid dinosaur from Asia. Naturwissenschaften 96, 645–652 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0518-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0518-9