Cerapods Fossil range: Early Jurassic?–Late Cretaceous, 165–65 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skulls of cerapod dinosaurs
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Suborder:	†Cerapoda Sereno, 1986
Infraorders
†Ceratopsia †Ornithopoda †Pachycephalosauria

Cerapoda (pronounced /siːˈrɒpədə/) is a clade or suborder of the order Ornithischia. They are the sister group of the Thyreophora within the clade Genasauria. Cerapods are united by having a thicker layer of enamel on the inside of their lower teeth. The teeth wore unevenly with chewing and developed sharp ridges that allowed cerapods to break down tougher plant food than other dinosaurs.

[edit] Taxonomy

They are divided either into two or three groups. The first of these groups were Ornithopoda ("bird-foot"). The other two groups were the Pachycephalosauria ("thick-headed lizards") and Ceratopsia ("horned-face"). These latter two are sometimes combined as Marginocephalia ("fringed heads") owing to their shared features which included the bony shelf they possessed on the back of the skull.

• Suborder Cerapoda
  • Albalophosaurus^[1]
  • Agilisaurus
  • Stormbergia
  • Hexinlusaurus
  • Infraorder Ornithopoda
    • Family Hypsilophodontidae*
    • Family Hadrosauridae - (duck-billed dinosaurs)
  • Infraorder Pachycephalosauria
  • Infraorder Ceratopsia - (horned dinosaurs)

(basal Cerapoda after Butler, 2005)

[edit] References

• Butler, R.J. (2005). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 145. p. 175-18. 
• Sereno, P.C. (1986). "Phylogeny of the bird-hipped dinosaurs (order Ornithischia)". National Geographic Research 2 (2): 234-56. 

[edit] External links

• Encyclopædia Britannica
• Palæos

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