Chaoyangsauridae
Appearance
Chaoyangsauridae Temporal range: Late Jurassic,
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Chaoyangsaurus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | †Ornithischia |
Clade: | †Neornithischia |
Clade: | †Ceratopsia |
Family: | †Chaoyangsauridae Zhao, Cheng, & Xu, 1999 |
Type species | |
†Chaoyangsaurus youngi Zhao, Cheng, & Xu, 1999
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Chaoyangsauridae is a family of dinosaurs. They are the earliest known marginocephalian dinosaurs to appear on the planet, about 148 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic period. Members of this group had sharp beaks for snipping off leaves to eat, and a very small frill. There are disagreements that the chaoyangsaurids were part of the pachycephalosaurian group, ceratopsian group, or a different ancestral group.
Four dinosaur genera, Chaoyangsaurus, Xuanhuaceratops, Yinlong and Hualianceratops, are included in Chaoyangsauridae. Both animals are more primitive (or basal) than both Psittacosaurus and Neoceratopsians.