Meet Triceratops’ newest cousin: A horned dinosaur the size of a cocker spaniel

DECEMBER 10, 2015

by Brett Smith

The Triceratops is one of the more popular dinosaurs out there, and fans of the three-horned thunder lizard can rejoice as researchers recently discovered a close relative in the deserts of China.

Dubbed Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis, the newly-described dino was about the size of a cocker spaniel, stood on its hind legs, and ate only plants, according to a report published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Although Hualianceratops was hornless, it is considered a part of the horned dinosaur family Ceratops. The same group found a similar hornless Ceratops dinosaur in 2002 called Yinlong downsi.

“Finding these two species in the same fossil beds reveals there was more diversity there than we previously recognized,” study author Catherine Forster, professor of biology at George Washington University, said in a statement. “It suggests that the ceratopsian dinosaurs already had diversified into at least four lineages by the beginning of the Jurassic Period.”

Horned dinos thrived in Late Jurassic period

Describing the new species helps scientists reassess the speed and pattern of ceratopsian development. Hualianceratops lived around 160 million years ago (early in the Late Jurassic Period), and the evolutionary associations the scientists found for the new species and other ceratopsians reveal that multiple lineages of ceratopsians were found concurrently—including the varied group Neoceratopsia that took over the Late Cretaceous.

"Identifying Hualianceratops allows us to expand the beaked family of dinosaurs (Ceratopsia), which includes popular species like Triceratops and Psittacosaurus,” said study author Fenglu Han, a postdoctoral student at China University of Geosciences. “Now we know the horned dinosaurs thrived in the early Late Jurassic, and they co-existed with Guanlong, which was an early relative of T. rex and maybe threatened them.”

Read more at 

New Horned Dinosaur Discovered With Wing-Shaped Headgear

June 18, 2014

Gerard LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A new horned dinosaur has been discovered and given the name Mercuriceratops gemini. Fossils collected from Montana, United States and Alberta, Canada reveal the new dinosaur was roughly 20 feet long and weighed more than two tons. It roamed the land around 77 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous Period.

Its name means “Mercury horned-face,” referring to a wing-like feature located on the head resembling the wings on the Roman god Mercury‘s helmet. The “gemini” refers to a similar dinosaur specimen found in north central Montana and at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Dinosaur Provincial Park, in Alberta, Canada.

“Mercuriceratops took a unique evolutionary path that shaped the large frill on the back of its skull into protruding wings like the decorative fins on classic 1950s cars. It definitively would have stood out from the herd during the Late Cretaceous. Horned dinosaurs in North America used their elaborate skull ornamentation to identify each other and to attract mates—not just for protection from predators. The wing-like protrusions on the sides of its frill may have offered male Mercuriceratops a competitive advantage in attracting mates,” explained lead author Dr. Michael Ryan from The Cleveland Museum of Natural History in a recent statement.

“The butterfly-shaped frill, or neck shield, of Mercuriceratops is unlike anything we have seen before. Mercuriceratops shows that evolution gave rise to much greater variation in horned dinosaur headgear than we had previously suspected,” said co-author Dr. David Evans, from the Royal Ontario Museum.

Skull fragments of the new dinosaur were found in the Judith River Formation of Montana and Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta. Royal Ontario Museum acquired the specimen from Montana and Susan Owen-Kagen from the University of Alberta collected the Alberta specimen.

Read more at

2-Ton 'Alien' Horned Dinosaur Discovered

Paleontologists in Canada have discovered fossils of a new 2-ton, 20-foot-long horned dinosaur that roamed the Earth about 80 million years ago. And its headgear would've put on quite a show for the ladies.

The dinosaur, a distant cousin of Triceratops called Xenoceratops foremostensis, is one of the oldest specimens known to date of the ceratopsid group. The beast's name, Xenoceratops, translates to "alien horned-face," referring to its strange pattern of horns on its head and above its brow, and the rarity of such horned dinosaurs in this part of the fossil record. 

"It seems to have the general types of ornamentation that we see taken to even greater extremes in later ceratopsids," said David Evans, a paleontologist at the Royal Ontario Museum. "That suggests the elaborate headgear evolved earlier." 

Continued: http://www.livescience.com/24623-alien-horned-dinosaur.html