Zhuchengceratops is a derived
leptoceratopsid ceratopsian which lived during the
Late Cretaceous period in what is now Kugou,
Zhucheng County,
China. It is known from a partial articulated skeleton including vertebrae, ribs, teeth, and parts of the skull and mandibles. The fossils were recovered from the
Wangshi Group, of the
Late Cretaceous. This genus was named by Xing Xu, Kebai Wang, Xijin Zhao, Corwin Sullivan and Shuqing Chen in
2010, and the type species is
Zhuchengceratops inexpectus. The genus name was chosen for the location of Zhucheng, where the
holotype was found, and the
Latinized-
Greek , meaning "horned face". They chose the species name
inexpectus to refer to the unexpected discovery of the articulated skeleton.
Zhuchengceratops had a particularly massive and deep 50 cm-long mandible that is also thin transversely. This and a number of other
autapomorphies unique to the genus lend it significance for increasing the morphological disparity and the
taxonomic diversity of the Leptoceratopsidae. As the third leptoceratopsid from Asia, this find exhibits the coexistence and radiation of two closely related clades, whose differences in jaw and tooth adaptation may represent different feeding strategies. == See also ==