Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
A fossil discovered roughly a decade ago by a member of the general public has been identified as an unusual horned dinosaur that is a previously undiscovered cousin of the Triceratops, a team of researchers report in the June 4 edition of the journal Current Biology.
The specimen was originally found by a man named Peter Hews at cliffs along the Oldman River in southeastern Alberta, Canada – a region where horned dinosaurs had never been found before, Dr. Caleb Brown of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology explained. This was the first clue that the discovery was something truly important.
Once the fossil was excavated and prepared, museum researchers evaluated the fossil and found that it had several unusual characteristics, including a taller nose horn than that of its cousin, a pair of “almost comically small” horns over its eyes, and a distinctive frill that includes a halo of large, pentagonal plates and a central spike that resembles a crown.
The comically small horns on this otherwise regal dino really complete the look. (Credit: Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology)
The new species has been named Regaliceratops peterhewsi in honor of the man who found it – the name translates to “Peter Hews’ royal horned face,” Dr. Brown told redOrbit via email. The specimen will be on display at the museum starting on June 4 as part of a new exhibit, Fossils in Focus, launched to celebrate the center’s 30th anniversary.
First evidence of evolutionary convergence in horned dinosaurs
As if it wasn’t enough that the research resulted in the discovery of a new species of horned dinosaurs, Dr. Brown said that the discovery “is significant in that the animal has an unexpected suite of features on its skull. Although the new animal is a close relative of triceratops, the relative size and shape of the horns and shield-like frill are very different. “
We have liftoff. (Credit: Royal Tyrrell Museum)
Unlike with triceratops, the horn above the nose of the Regaliceratops peterhewsi would have been tall, and the ones above the eyes would have been short, he explained. The edge of the triceratops frill is capped by low scallop-shaped bones, but in the new species, these bones are much larger and range in shape from triangular to pentagonal, he told redOrbit.
“Despite being closely related to triceratops (a group called the Chasmosaurinae),” Dr. Brown said, “the display structures (horns and frill) of the new animal are more similar to those of the other main group of horned dinosaurs (the Centrosaurinae), which went extinct just prior to the time that Regaliceratops comes from.” This means that its display structures “have evolved to be convergent with the Centrosaurinae, something that had not be found previously.”
Dr. Brown, along with co-author Donald Henderson, reported in their study that the traits of the new species marks the first example of evolutionary convergence in horned dinosaurs, meaning that these two groups independently evolved similar features. They plan to digitally reconstruct the skull of Regaliceratops peterhewsi, and are hopeful that they will be able to find additional specimens of this dinosaur, as well as other new species, in the same region. We’ll cross our fingers!
In the meantime, here’s this:
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