Bainoceratops (meaning "mountain horned face", after the type locality, Bayn Dzak) is a genus of ceratopsian dinosaur from the late Campanian in the Late Cretaceous. The type species is B. efremovi.
History
Viktor Tereshchenko and Vladimir R. Alifanov in 2003 named
Bainoceratops efremovi based on a few dorsal (back) vertebrae that were stated to differ from those of
Protoceratops, suggesting a closer relationship with
Udanoceratops.
In 2006
paleontologists
Peter Makovicky and Mark A. Norell suggested that
Bainoceratops may be synonymous with
Protoceratops as most of the traits used to separate the former from the latter have been reported from other ceratopsians including
Protoceratops itself, and they are more likely to fall within the wide intraspecific variation range of the concurring
P. andrewsi.
In 2007, in their description of
Cerasinops, authors Brenda J. Chinnery and John R. Horner determined
Bainoceratops and other dubious genera to be either a variant or immature specimen of other well-known genera. Based on this reasoning, they excluded
Bainoceratops from their phylogenetic analysis.
See also
-
Timeline of ceratopsian research
