PBDB Taxon

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Psittacosauridae

Reptilia - Psittacosauridae

Taxonomy

Psittacosauridae was named by Osborn (1923). Its type is Psittacosaurus.

It was assigned to Iguanodontia by Osborn (1924); to Thyreophoroidea by Nopcsa (1928), Nopcsa (1929) and Huene (1934); to Thyreophoroidea by Huene (1934); to Kalodontoidea by Huene (1948); to Dolichopoda by Thulborn (1974) and Thulborn (1977); to Ornitophoda by Bonaparte (1978); to Ornithopoda by Roxo (1937), Kuhn (1946), Romer (1956), Huene (1959), Parsch (1963), Tatarinov (1964), Kuhn (1964), Kuhn (1966), Romer (1966), Charig (1967), Swinton (1970), Thulborn (1970), Galton (1972) and Ostrom (1980); to Ceratopsoidea by Norman (1984); to Psittacosauroidea by Cooper (1985); to Ceratopia by Olshevsky and Ford (1994); to Ceratopsia by Thulborn (1971), Sues and Galton (1982), Coombs (1982), Maryanska and Osmólska (1985), Ostrom and Wellnhofer (1986), Bakker (1986), Carroll (1988), Dodson (1990), Sereno (1990), Buffetaut and Ingavat (1992), You and Dodson (2004), Campione and Holmes (2006) and Chinnery and Horner (2007); and to Ceratopsia by Sereno (1997), Dodson (1997), Butler et al. (2008), Tanoue et al. (2009), Sereno (2010), Han et al. (2012), Zheng et al. (2015) and Napoli et al. (2019).

Subtaxa

Xuanhuasaurus

Synonyms

Protiguanodontinae was named by Osborn (1923).

It was synonymized subjectively with Psittacosauridae by Kuhn (1964).

It was assigned to Psittacosauridae by Osborn (1923) and Osborn (1924).
Stenopelyxidae was named by Nopcsa (1927). Its type is Stenopelix.

It was synonymized subjectively with Psittacosauridae by Kuhn (1964) and Kuhn (1966); it was corrected as Stenopelixidae by Cooper (1985); it was corrected as Stenopelicidae by Olshevsky and Ford (1994).

It was assigned to Stegosauria by Kuhn (1946); to Pachycephalosauria by Cooper (1985); and to Marginocephalia by Olshevsky and Ford (1994).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1923	Protiguanodontinae Osborn
1923	Psittacosauridae Osborn p. 6
1923	Protiguanodontinae Osborn p. 9
1924	Psittacosauridae Osborn
1924	Protiguanodontinae Osborn p. 11
1927	Stenopelyxidae Nopcsa
1928	Psittacosauridae Nopcsa p. 185
1929	Psittacosauridae Nopcsa p. 71
1934	Psittacosauridae Huene p. 15
1937	Psittacosauridae Roxo p. 65
1946	Psittacosauridae Kuhn p. 66
1946	Stenopelyxidae Kuhn p. 66
1948	Psittacosauridae Huene p. 94
1956	Psittacosauridae Romer p. 631
1959	Psittacosauridae Huene p. 122
1963	Psittacosauridae Parsch p. 4
1964	Psittacosauridae Kuhn p. 29
1964	Psittacosauridae Tatarinov p. 555
1966	Psittacosauridae Kuhn p. 103
1966	Psittacosauridae Romer p. 370
1967	Psittacosauridae Charig p. 717
1970	Psittacosauridae Swinton p. 232
1970	Psittacosauridae Thulborn p. 428 fig. 9
1971	Psittacosauridae Thulborn p. 77
1972	Psittacosauridae Galton p. 466
1974	Psittacosauridae Thulborn p. 172
1977	Psittacosauridae Thulborn p. 737
1978	Psittacosauridae Bonaparte p. 569
1980	Psittacosauridae Ostrom p. 22
1982	Psittacosauridae Coombs, Jr. p. 100
1982	Psittacosauridae Sues and Galton p. 189
1984	Psittacosauridae Norman p. 160 fig. 2
1985	Stenopelixidae Cooper p. 291
1985	Psittacosauridae Cooper p. 292
1985	Psittacosauridae Maryanska and Osmólska pp. 143-144 fig. 1
1986	Psittacosauridae Bakker p. 461
1986	Psittacosauridae Ostrom and Wellnhofer p. 117
1988	Psittacosauridae Carroll
1990	Psittacosauridae Dodson p. 578
1990	Psittacosauridae Sereno p. 589
1992	Psittacosauridae Buffetaut and Ingavat
1994	Psittacosauridae Olshevsky and Ford
1994	Stenopelicidae Olshevsky and Ford p. 91
1997	Psittacosauridae Dodson p. 473
1997	Psittacosauridae Sereno p. 611
2004	Psittacosauridae You and Dodson p. 479
2006	Psittacosauridae Campione and Holmes p. 1014
2007	Psittacosauridae Chinnery and Horner p. 638 fig. 6
2008	Psittacosauridae Butler et al. p. 22 figs. 2-4
2009	Psittacosauridae Tanoue et al. p. 426
2010	Psittacosauridae Sereno p. 25
2012	Psittacosauridae Han et al. p. 1391 fig. 14
2015	Psittacosauridae Zheng et al. p. 6–7 fig. 3
2019	Psittacosauridae Napoli et al.

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
subclass	Eureptilia	()

Rank	Name	Author
—	Romeriida
—	Diapsida	()
—	Archosauromorpha	(Huene 1946)
—	Crocopoda
—	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
—	Eucrocopoda
—	Archosauria	()
informal	Avemetatarsalia
—	Ornithodira
—	Dinosauromorpha
—	Dinosauriformes
—	Dinosauria	()
—	Ornithischia	()
—	Genasauria
—	Cerapoda
—	Marginocephalia
—	Ceratopsia	()
family	Psittacosauridae
family	Psittacosauridae

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

Fm. †Psittacosauridae Osborn 1923

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G. †Xuanhuasaurus Zhao 1985

Invalid names: Protiguanodontidae Osborn 1923 [synonym], Stenopelyxidae Nopcsa 1927 [synonym]

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
B. F. Nopcsa 1928	skullhigh, broad posteriorly; upper temporal vacuities present; teeth comparatively simple and few in number; semiquadrupedal; pseudopectineal process short; ischium without flange; very feeble dermal armour
F. v. Huene 1948	Semi-bipedal. Skull short, anterior portion high; supraorbital; few teeth, all sides with enamel; prodental; 6 cervicals, 16 dorsals, 5-6 sacrals; small clavicle; foreleg used in locomotion; ulnar side of manus reduced; pubis half the length of ischium; tibia longer than femur; pes high, functionally tridactylous. Lower Cretaceous.
P. M. Galton 1972	High, broad and relatively large skull, deep beak formed by rostral bone, inset cheek teeth with randomly formed wear surfaces, long anterior process to pubis.
P. C. Sereno 2010	Same as Psittacosaurus

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

hydroxyapatiteo

Entire body:

yeso

Adult length:

10 to < 100o

Adult width:

1.0 to < 10o

Adult height:

1.0 to < 10o

Architecture:

compact or denseo

Ontogeny:

accretion, modification of partso

Grouping:

gregariouso

Environment:

terrestrialsubo

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

ground dwellingsubo

Diet:

herbivoresubo

Reproduction:

oviparouso

Dispersal:

direct/internalo

Dispersal 2:

mobileo

Created:

2005-09-15 11:08:09

Modified:

2005-09-15 13:08:09

Source: subo = suborder, o = order

References: Marsh 1875, Norman and Weishampel 1991

Age range: base of the Valanginian to the top of the Early/Lower Cenomanian or 139.80000 to 93.50000 Ma

Collections (8 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Early/Lower Cretaceous	145.0 - 100.5	Mongolia (Dornogov)	Psittacosauridae indet. (127658)
Valanginian - Early/Lower Hauterivian	139.8 - 130.0	China (Nei Mongol)	Psittacosauridae indet. (46931)
Aptian	125.0 - 113.0	China (Guangxi)	Psittacosauridae indet. (229086)
Aptian - Albian	125.0 - 100.5	Laos (Savannakhet)	Neoceratopsia indet. (118320)
Aptian - Albian	125.0 - 100.5	China (Shandong)	Psittacosauridae indet. (219980) P. sinensis (55476)
Aptian - Albian	125.0 - 100.5	Mongolia (Dornogov)	Psittacosaurus sp. (32362)
Early/Lower Cenomanian	99.6 - 93.5	Uzbekistan (Navoi)	Psittacosauridae indet. (64685)