2 new Ceratops species discovered

[Raph's Girl]

Say hello to Kosmoceratops and Utahceratops! Kosmo looks like it has a mop top.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100922/...saur_discovery

Scientists said Wednesday they've discovered fossils in the southern Utah desert of two new dinosaur species closely related to the Triceratops, including one with 15 horns on its large head.

The discovery of the new plant-eating species — including Kosmoceratops richardsoni, considered the most ornate-headed dinosaur known to man — was reported Wednesday in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE, produced by the Public Library of Science.

The other dinosaur, which has five horns and is the larger of the two, was dubbed Utahceratops gettyi.

"It's not every day that you find two rhino-sized dinosaurs that are different from all the other dinosaurs found in North America," said Mark Loewen, a Utah Museum of Natural History paleontologist and an author of the paper published in PLoS ONE.

"You would think that we know everything there is to know about the dinosaurs of western North America, but every year we're finding new things, especially here in Utah," he said.

The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has been a hotbed for dinosaur species discoveries in the past decade, with more than a dozen new species discovered. While it is a rocky, arid place now, millions of years ago it was similar to a swamp.

The Utahceratops has a large horn over the nose and short eye horns that project to the side rather than upward, similar to a bison. Its skull is about 7 feet long, it stood about 6 feet high and was 18 to 22 feet long. It is believed to have weighed about 3 to 4 tons.

The Kosmoceratops has similar facial features at the Utahceratops, but has 10 horns across the rear margin of its bony frill that point downward and outward. It weighed about 2.5 tons and was about 15 feet long.

The horns on both animals range in length from about 6 inches to 1 foot.

Paleontologists say the discovery shows that horned dinosaurs living on the same continent 76 million years ago evolved differently.

Scientists say that other horned dinosaurs lived on the same ancient continent known as Laramidia in what is now Alberta, Canada.

The numerous horns are believed to have been used to attract mates and intimidate sexual competitors, similar to horns on deer.

"The horns really are probably developed at puberty, because most likely these are signals for mate recognition, competition between males, things like that," Loewen said. "They're sexual signals and really that's how we think this group of dinosaurs divided."

Yeah! 2 new Ceratopsian species and both discovered in my home state!

Kosmoceratops:


Utahceratops:

[Shredder]

Well now that we know that Triceratops and Torosaurus may have been the same species, it's cool to see some new Ceratops dinos that aren't Triceratops join the mix.

[oldmanwinters]

Kosmo & Utah Ceratops? Seriously, are the paleontologists running out of good dinosaur names or something? I am diggin' the look on the Utahceratops head though. Kosmoceratops... not so much. Sort of looks like the Triceratops equivalent of Scooby-Doo's Scooby-Dum.

[A little *too* Raph]

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Kosmo & Utah Ceratops? Seriously, are the paleontologists running out of good dinosaur names or something?

Kosmoceratops means Ornate Face.

Sometimes dinos are named after the area they were discovered in. IE Utahraptor (3x bigger than Velociraptor), Utahceratops, and Argentinosaurus.

[Machias Banshee]

I Love the Kosmo's drooped frill. What on earth was That used for?

And yes, Utah has some of the BEST dinosaur discoveries...

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Machias Banshee

I Love the Kosmo's drooped frill. What on earth was That used for?

And yes, Utah has some of the BEST dinosaur discoveries...

I should scan the pic of me laying in a t-rex footprint at the Dino museum at the University. *lol* University of Utah always has the coolest displays and you can watch the paleontologists clean up their latest finds.

[Eiko]

Those are 2 pretty awesome looking dinos there.