First report of ceratopsians and tyrannosauroids (Dinosauria) in the Newark Canyon Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Nevada

Abstract This paper describes three collections of vertebrate fossils from the Lower Cretaceous Newark Canyon Formation of Eureka County, Nevada, made by the United States Geological Survey in 1961. Briefly mentioned in the prior literature, these specimens have gone unstudied for more than sixty years, until their recent transfer to the Smithsonian Institution. Re-examination of the materials reveals the first records of neoceratopsian and tyrannosauroid dinosaurs in the Newark Canyon Formation. In addition to augmenting the known vertebrate fauna from this poorly studied stratum, these occurrences provide important new data on otherwise rare taxa during a time of major faunal transition in North America.