Chaoyangsaurus

Type Species: Chaoyangsaurus youngi

Classification: Dinosauria – Ornithischia – Marginocephalia – Ceratopsia – Chaoyangsauridae 

Time Period: Late Jurassic 

Location: China

Diet: Herbivore

While little remains for this small herbivorous dinosaur have been discovered, those remains indicate that it was an early ceratopsian. Chaoyangsaurus was a small, bipedal herbivore whose lineage lies along the lay-lines that would eventually spawn one of the most dominant dinosaurs of the Cretaceous, the ceratopsians. Chaoyangsaurus is the namesake of the group that includes the earliest ceratopsians, such as Hulianceratops, Yinlong, and Xuanhuaceratops. All are from the Late Jurassic China, and they inform us that the ceratopsian lineage began there before radiating throughout the entire world during the Cretaceous Period.