Sinoceratops

Sinoceratops Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Campanian – Maastrichtian) 73.5–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Reconstructed skeleton
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	†Ornithischia
Clade:	†Neornithischia
Clade:	†Ceratopsia
Family:	†Ceratopsidae
Subfamily:	†Centrosaurinae
Genus:	†Sinoceratops Xu et al., 2010
Type species
†Sinoceratops zhuchengensis Xu et al., 2010

Sinoceratops /ˌsaɪnoʊˈsɛrətɒps/ is an extinct genus of ceratopsian dinosaur that lived from 73.5 to 66 million years ago during the latter part of the Cretaceous Period in what is now Shandong province in China. It was named in 2010 by Xu Xing et al. for three skulls from Zhucheng, China. The name of its type species Sinoceratops zhuchengensis means "Chinese horned face from Zhucheng", after the location of its discovery.

Sinoceratops was a medium-sized, averagely-built, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivore. It could grow up to an estimated 5 metres (16 ft) in length and weigh up to 2 tonnes (2.0 long tons; 2.2 short tons). It was the first ceratopsid dinosaur discovered in China, and the only ceratopsid known from Asia. All other centrosaurines, and all chasmosaurines, are known from fossils discovered in North America, except for possibly Turanoceratops. Sinoceratops is also significant because it is one of the largest known centrosaurines, and is much larger than any other known basal members of this group.

Sinoceratops was discovered in the Hongtuya Formation, which was deposited during the late Cretaceous. It lived alongside leptoceratopsids, saurolophines, and tyrannosaurines. The most common animal in the formation was Shantungosaurus, to which most of the material has been assigned. The animals living alongside Sinoceratops and Shantungosaurus were Zhuchengceratops, Zhuchengtitan, and Zhuchengtyrannus.