Auroraceratops, meaning "dawn horned face", is a genus of bipedal basal neoceratopsian dinosaur, from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian age) of north central China.

[3] Due to the differences in anatomy from the earlier-found Archaeoceratops, You and colleagues chose to name the new binomial Auroraceratops rugosus for the specimen in 2005, making CAGS IG-2004-VD-001 the holotype of their new taxon.

[4] The Early Cretaceous deposits of the Yujingzi Basin are from Xinminpu Group, with three distinct facies, of which only the upper red sandstone preserves Auroraceratops.

While they would not have been much use as a physical defense against predators, another possible function for these structures would be in pushing or butting contests between members of the same species either for mating rights or social disputes.

[citation needed] Auroraceratops is a rather derived moderate-sized basal neoceratopsian that adds diversity to that clade, displaying skull features not present in Archaeoceratops or Liaoceratops.

[citation needed] A detailed analysis of the post-cranial skeleton published in 2019 showed that the animal would have walked bipedally and had an estimated length of 1.25 m (4.1 ft), hip height of 44 cm (17 in) and body mass of 15.5 kg (34 lb).

The Mazongshan Dinosaur Fauna is distributed between the Gongpoquan and Yujingzi basins of Gansu Province, with Auroraceratops found in both main areas.

Auroraceratops is only known from the red-colored beds that form the bottom of the Zhonggou Formation, where it has been found alongside Archaeoceratops oshimai, Beishanlong and the unnamed ornithomimosaur, and Suzhousaurus and "N." bohlini.