Abstract
While centrosaurines and ceratopsids in general are abundant in the Late Campanian of northern Laramidia, they are much less commonly found in southern Laramidia. This has supported hypotheses of dinosaur provinciality and endemism in the Late Cretaceous with the delineation of at least two separate faunal zones, north and south Laramidia. There have been 12 genera of centrosaurines recognized from northern Laramidia while two genera, Diabloceratops and Nasutoceratops, have been named from southern Laramidia. We present an osteological description and taphonomic outline for a new centrosaurine ceratopsid from the Aguja Formation of northern Coahuila, Mexico that is not currently diagnosable to the generic level, but likely represents a new taxon. Further, we have included three-dimensional surface scans of all material attributed to this animal. Considering the large number of centrosaurines from northern Laramidia, it is likely that cladistic analyses are biased towards this faunal zone. New findings of southern centrosaurines are needed to correct this bias. This discovery expands the range of centrosaurines south to Coahuila, Mexico and adds new information to better characterize the morphology and taxonomy of centrosaurines from southern Laramidia and their evolution in comparison to their northern counterparts.
Highlights
The first named ceratopsian dinosaur from Mexico was published in 2010 [1]
In spite of the fact that diagnosable ceratopsian material is seemingly rare in Mexico, the first Mexican ceratopsians were discovered more than fifty years ago
We show that Colección Paleontológica de Coahuila (CPC) 274 displays the characters of a basal centrosaurine and we discuss ceratopsian distribution and endemism across Laramidia
Summary
The first named ceratopsian dinosaur from Mexico was published in 2010 [1]. In spite of the fact that diagnosable ceratopsian material is seemingly rare in Mexico, the first Mexican ceratopsians were discovered more than fifty years ago. In 1958, several dinosaur specimens were collected in the Parras Basin close to the town of Hipólito, Coahuila. These specimens were identified as belonging to ‘Monoclonius’ [2]. During the 1960s, more ceratopsian remains were collected in the Olmos Formation near Palau, northern Coahuila, and were tentatively referred to Chasmosaurus [3]. In 1984, a multinational team from the Royal Ontario Museum collected
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