Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Cerapoda
Infraorder: Ceratopsia
Family: Protoceratopsidae
Genus: Protoceratops

Species: P. Andrewsi

Protoceratops is a small (2m long) ceratopsian widely believed to be a primitive or ancestral genera of the larger ceratopsia families. It lived during the late Cretaceous, and was adorned with a simple neck frill which may have been subject to sexual dimorphic size variation. Many interesting and well-preserved specimens have been found, including a fossilized scene of a protoceratops and velociraptor dying in mid-battle, and a protoceratops found with delicate, occular bones rarely seen in similar specimens. P. Andrewsi provides researchers with an abundance of evolutionary and behavioural data on the nature of ceratopsian dinosaurs.

Type Species: Protoceratops andrewsi

Granger, WK; and Gregory, WK. (1923). Protoceratops andrewsi, a pre-ceratopsian dinosaur from Mongolia. American Museum Novitates Vol. 72, pp. 1–9.

Locality:

Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia, China.

Scientific Resources:

Tsuihiji, T; and Makovicky, PJ. (2007). Homology of the Neoceratopsian Cervical Bar Elements. Journal of Paleontology, Vol. 81, Issue 5, pp. 1132-1138.

Chinnery, BJ; and Horner, JR. (2007). A New Neoceratopsian Dinosaur linking North American and Asian Taxa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 625-641.

Goodwin, MB; Clemens, WA; Horner, JR; and Padian, K. (2006). The Smallest Known Triceratops skull: New Observations on Ceratopsid Cranial Anatomy and Ontogeny. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Vol. 26, Issue 1, pp. 103-112.

Tereschenko, VS. (2005). Key to Protoceratopoid vertebrae (Ceratopsia, Dinosauria) from Mongolia. Paleontological Journal, Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 175-188.

Farlow, JO; and Dodson, P. (1975). The Behavioral Significance of Frill and Horn Morphology in Ceratopsian Dinosaurs. Evolution, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 353-361.