Nasutuceratops titusi, a new basal centrosaurine dinosaur (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae) from the Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation, southern Utah

Remains of a previously unknown horned dinosaur were recently recovered from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Kaiparowits Formation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, southern Utah. These exceptionally preserved materials, including a nearly complete skull with multiple postcranial elements, represent a new genus and species of centrosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur, Nasutuceratops titusi n. gen. et n. sp. The new Utah taxon is placed within Centrosaurinae on the basis of multiple synapomorphies, including delta-shaped rostral; subcircular, hypertrophied narial region; thin, pronounced premaxillary septum; narial spine composed of processes from nasal and premaxilla; expanded and thickened ventral angle on premaxilla; and subrectangular, stepped squamosal. Autapomorhies of this taxon include ectonaris comprises 75% of preorbital skull length; nasals pneumatic; premaxilla-maxilla contact hyper-robust; double faceted, medially directed flange on maxilla contributing to short hard palette; and supraorbital horncores rostrolaterally directed, rostrally curved, torsionally twisted, and relatively enormous. A phylogenetic analysis of Centrosaurinae places Nasutuceratops as the sister taxon to Avaceratops lammersi from the late Campanian of Montana. Nasutuceratops titusi provides insights into the base of Centrosaurinae and suggests the existence of a previously unknown clade of short-snouted, long-horned centrosaurines in the southern Western Interior Basin (WIB) of North America. Nasutuceratops also provides strong support for hypothesis of dinosaur provinciality in late Campanian WIB.