Paleontologists found a new species of horned dinosaur, which lived 70 million years ago and whose distinctive feature is in a bone crown of peaks shaped diamond in the back of the skull and a huge horn on its nose.
The new species was identified as Regaliceratops peterhewsi, the family of horned dinosaurs, researchers later studying fossils discovered 10 years ago at the bottom of the Oldman River in the southeast of the province of Alberta, Canada.
It was a nearly complete skull found was a different dinosaur that known until now, although with characteristics similar to those of the triceratops, who have a bone gola skull and three horns, two above the eyes and a smaller nose.
After cleaning and measure remains, scientists at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Canada, identified three horns, like the triceratops, but in this case the two above the eyes were smaller and the third on the nose much larger.
Based on their observations and comparisons, identified as a relative of Triceratops and as the first instance of a horned dinosaur found in this region of North America.
The new species was a herbivore, but looked more impressive shield on the back of the skull, decorated with large triangular and pentagonal panels, characteristics that led researchers to name Regaliceratops peterhewsi.
“It was a coincidence, but when we realized the skull had short horns on the eyes, nicknamed Hellboy comic book and films with horns, “say the researchers in an article published in the journal Current Biology.
The features of the new species led palaeontologists to suggest that the newly discovered species was extinct when they appeared the triceratops.
“It’s a strange mixture of features that reflect a convergent evolution over the course of prehistory”, sustain and estimate the sharp horn on its nose was probably used for defense against predators like Tyrannosaurus Rex.
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