Wendiceratops: Strange, New Horned Dinosaur Reveals Evolutionary History of Triceratops

First Posted: Jul 08, 2015 07:13 PM EDT

A new horned dinosaur may reveal a bit more about the famous Triceratops. Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur that is one of the oldest known members of the family that also contains the Triceratops, the Ceratopsidae.

The new dinosaur was actually pieced together from over 200 bones that represented the remains of at least four individuals. The fossils were collected from a bonebed in southern Alberta near the border of Montana. Called Wendiceratops pinhornensis, this species was a herbivore and would crop low-lying plants with a parrot-like beak. It when then slice up the plants with dozens of leaf-shaped teeth.

Wendiceratops is perhaps most recognizable by its adorned skull, which is particularly impressive for an early member of the horned dinosaur family. Its most distinctive feature, though, is a series of forward-curling, hook-like horns along the margin of the wide, shield-like frill that projects from the back of its skull.

"Wendiceratops helps us understand the early evolution of skull ornamentation in the iconic group of dinosaurs characterized by their horned faces," said David Evans, one of the researchers, in a news release. "The wide frill of Wendiceratops is ringed by numerous curled horns, the nose had a large, upright horn, and it's likely there were horns over the eyes too. The number of gnarly frill projections and horns makes it one of the most striking horned dinosaurs ever found."

The horn on the nose of this dinosaurs is particularly interesting. Although the nasal bone is represented by fragmentary specimens and its complete shape is unknown, it's clear that the dinosaur had a prominent, upright nasal horncore. This represents the earliest documented occurrence of a tall nose horn in Ceratopsia.

"Beyond its odd, hook-like frill, Wendiceratops has a unique horn ornamentation above its nose that shows the intermediate evolutionary development between low, rounded forms of the earliest horned dinosaurs and the large, tall horns of Styracosaurus, and its relatives, "said Michael Ryan, co-author of the new study.

The findings reveal a bit more about this dinosaur and show a bit more about the evolutionary history of Stegosaurus.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.