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Scientists Redefine Horned Dinosaur Relationships with the Identification of Two New Ceratopsian Tribes
Cleveland, Ohio... Scientists have named two new clades, or tribes, of horned dinosaurs (ceratopsians) based on fossils collected from the United States and Alberta, Canada. The new tribes are Nasutoceratopsini and Centrosaurini. Research describing the updated relationships among horned dinosaurs appears online in the
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.
Nasutoceratopsini includes horned dinosaurs such as
Avaceratops from Montana and
Nasutoceratops from Utah. These dinosaurs grew up to 6 meters (20 feet) long, weighed more than 2 tons, and had large shields extending from the back of their skulls like
Triceratops. They lived about 74-76 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period.
Nasutoceratopsini belongs to the subfamily Centrosaurinae, which includes dinosaurs with the most elaborate head shield ornamentation ever developed, such as the spikey
Styracosaurus. In contrast, nasutoceratopsins are distinguished by having large, broad frills that lacked well-developed ornamentation. Unlike their flashy contemporaries, these dinosaurs weren't dinosaurian show-offs, choosing instead to blend into their environments.
Work recognizing the new tribe is based on a fossil skull from the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Canada, collected almost 80 years ago in southern Alberta. Although the skull is too fragmentary to be given a new name, its distinctive unornamented shield allowed the scientists to tie it and horned dinosaur species from Utah and Montana together into a new grouping. Although all nasutoceratopsins lack shield ornamentation, they had two long brow horns above their eyes.
“Nasutoceratopsins took a different evolutionary path from their centrosaurine cousins, which typically have highly ornamented skulls” said lead author
Dr. Michael Ryan, Curator of
Vertebrate Paleontology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. “We believe that the skull ornamentation was important for attracting mates. If nasutoceratopsins lacked boney ornamentation, it's possible that they may have used distinctive coloration patterns, social behaviors or vocalizations, like modern birds do in their courtship behaviors. But we'll never know for sure since those latter features don't fossilize."
The second new tribe described by the scientists, Centrosaurini, formally acknowledges its members (such as
Centrosaurus) as being a natural grouping of horned dinosaurs with highly ornamented frills and short brow horns.
The fact that the two tribes are found together over a great distance in rocks of the same age indicates that they would have overlapped in the same regions at the same time.
"It's probably similar to how two species of rhinoceros can broadly overlap in their geographic ranges, but do not actually compete with each other for resources," said Dr. Jordan Mallon of the Canadian Museum of Nature, a co-author on the paper. "Black rhinos will feed on woody browse, while white rhinos are primarily grass grazers. Thus, the two species tend to utilize different parts of the same environments. The assumption that centrosaurins and nasutoceratopsins may have had different feeding strategies is supported by the fact that the two tribes had different types of jaws, with the lower jaws of nasutoceratopsins being shorter and deeper.
The description of the two new horned dinosaur tribes is the latest in a series of new finds being made by Ryan and Dr. David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum as part of their
Southern Alberta Dinosaur Project, which is designed to fill in knowledge gaps about Late Cretaceous dinosaurs and study their evolution. This project focuses on the paleontology of some of oldest dinosaur-bearing rocks in Alberta and neighbouring rocks in northern Montana that are of the same age.
Full Reference: Michael J. Ryan, Robert Holmes, Jordan Mallon, Mark Loewen, and David C. Evans. A basal ceratopsid (Centrosaurinae: Nasutoceratopsini) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
. Published online Dec. 13, 2016.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2016-0110
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About the Cleveland Museum of Natural History
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, incorporated in 1920, is one of the finest institutions of its kind in North America. It is noted for its collections, research, educational programs and exhibits. The collections encompass more than 5 million artifacts and specimens, and research of global significance focuses on 11 natural science disciplines. The Museum conserves biological diversity through the protection of more than 6,000 acres of natural areas. It promotes health education with local programs and distance learning that extends across the globe. Its GreenCityBlueLake Institute is a center of thought and practice for the design of green and sustainable cities.
About the University of Alberta
The University of Alberta in Edmonton is one of Canada’s top teaching and research universities, with an international reputation for excellence across the humanities, sciences, creative arts, business, engineering, and health sciences. Home to more than 39,000 students and 15,000 faculty and staff, the university has an annual budget of $1.7 billion and attracts nearly $450 million in sponsored research revenue. The U of A offers close to 400 rigorous undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in 18 faculties on five campuses—including one rural and one francophone campus. The university has almost 250,000 alumni worldwide. The university and its people remain dedicated to the promise made in 1908 by founding president Henry Marshall Tory that knowledge shall be used for “uplifting the whole people.”
About the Canadian Museum of Nature
The Canadian Museum of Nature is Canada's national museum of natural history and natural sciences. The museum provides evidence-based insights, inspiring experiences and meaningful engagement with nature's past, present and future. It achieves this through scientific research, access to a 10.5 million specimen collection, education programs, signature and travelling exhibitions, and a dynamic web site, nature.ca. The museum’s fossil collection includes one of the best collections of horned dinosaurs in the world.
About the Natural History Museum of Utah
The Natural History Museum of Utah, the University of Utah, is one of the leading scientific research and cultural institutions in the Intermountain West. Established in 1963, the Museum cares for over 1.2 million objects and offers innovative exhibitions and educational programs to thousands of residents and visitors each year, including traveling and permanent exhibits, special events and other programs. The Museum also offers a variety of outreach programs to communities and schools throughout Utah, reaching every school district in the state annually. The Museum has an active research program with more than 30 scientists and 10 field expeditions each year.
About the Royal Ontario Museum
Opened in 1914, Canada’s largest museum of natural history and world cultures has six million objects in its collections and galleries showcasing art, archaeology and natural science. The ROM is the largest field research institution in the country, and a world leader in research areas from biodiversity, palaeontology, and earth sciences to archaeology, ethnology and visual culture—originating new information towards a global understanding of historical and modern change in culture and environment. For 24-hour information in English and French, please call 416.586.8000 or visit the ROM’s web site at www.rom.on.ca. Tickets are available online at www.rom.on.ca. For specific questions or concerns pertaining to the ROM’s Accessibility, call 416.586.8000 prior to visiting. For those who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing, Bell Relay Service can be reached by dialing 711 or 1.800.855.0511.
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