Article: The first neoceratopsian dinosaur remains from Europe
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume:
50
Part:
4
Publication Date:
July
2007
Page(s):
929
–
937
Author(s):
Johan Lindgren, Philip J. Currie, Mikael Siverson, Jan Rees, Peter Cederström and Filip Lindgren
Abstract
Shallow marine, nearshore strata of earliest Campanian (Gonioteuthis granulataquadrata belemnite Zone) and latest Early Campanian (informal Belemnellocamax mammillatus belemnite zone) age in the Kristianstad Basin, southern Sweden, have yielded isolated leptoceratopsid teeth and vertebrae, representing the first record of horned dinosaurs from Europe. The new leptoceratopsid occurrence may support a European dispersal route for the Leptoceratopsidae, or may represent an entirely endemic population. The presence of leptoceratopsid teeth in shallow marine deposits contradicts previous hypotheses suggesting that basal neoceratopsians mainly preferred arid and/or semi-arid habitats far from coastal areas.