Magnirostris

Magnirostris
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Skull of Magnirostris dodsoni, on display at the Paleozoological Museum of China
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Ornithischia
Infraorder:	Ceratopsia
Family:	Protoceratopsidae
Genus:	Magnirostris You and Dong, 2003
Species
M. dodsoni You and Dong, 2003 (type)

Magnirostris, from the Latin magnus "large" and rostrum "beak", is the name given to a genus of dinosaur from the Late Campanian epoch in the Late Cretaceous. It was a ceratopsian which lived in Inner Mongolia in China. It is distinguished from other protoceratopsids by its large beak (hence the name) and incipient orbital horn cores.

Discovery and species

Magnirostris dodsoni was described by You and Dong Zhiming in 2003, from a near-complete skull collected from the Bayan Mandahu area in Inner Mongolia, China by the Sino-Canadian Dinosaur Project. It was named after Peter Dodson, a palaeontologist.

It may be only a variant of Bagaceratops, and the incipient horn cores may be an artifact of preservation.

See also

• Timeline of ceratopsian research

External links

• Ceratopsia