page_title: Mosaiceratops
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Mosaiceratops / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Life restoration of Mosaiceratops based in the skeletal reconstruction by Wenjie Zheng, Xingsheng Jin &amp; Xing Xu
context_page_description: Mosaiceratops is a genus of ceratopsian described by Zheng, Jin & Xu in 2015 found in the Xiaguan Formation of Neixiang County. Although phylogenetic analysis have found it to be the most basal neoceratopsian, the authors noted that several features in the premaxilla and nasal bones are shared with the family Psittacosauridae, indicating that neoceratopsians evolved premaxillary teeth twice and that Psittacosauridae is not a primitive family as previously thought.
context_section_description: Mosaiceratops can be distinguished by multiple autapomorphic features which include: the presence of an evident premaxillar groove between the rostral bone and the maxilla in lateral view, and the elongation of the anterior part of the jugal. In addition, the taxon appears to be different from other neoceratopsians in the width proportion between premaxilla and maxilla, with the former being broader in lateral view. The presence of that trait is plesiomorphic, being shared with Psittacosaurus. But the skull overall is more similar to advanced taxa like Aquilops or Liaoceratops.
  In Mosaiceratops, the premaxilla is edentulous, meaning it lacks teeth.
caption: Life restoration
exif: {}