Remains of (Regaliceratops peterhewsi) were found in Alberta, Canada, according to a paper published in the latest issue of the journal Current Biology. The newly found species, which lived 70 million years ago, was closely related to the iconic dino Triceratops.
"The specimen comes from a geographic region of Alberta where we have not found horned dinosaurs before, so from the onset we knew it was important," co-author Caleb Brown of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology said in a press release.
"However, it was not until the specimen was being slowly prepared from the rocks in the laboratory that the full anatomy was uncovered, and the bizarre suite of characters revealed," he continued. "Once it was prepared it was obviously a new species, and an unexpected one at that. Many horned-dinosaur researchers who visited the museum did a double take when they first saw it in the laboratory."
The shield-like feature, which Brown described as a halo of large pentagonal plates radiating outward, gave this dinosaur a tribal leader look. When the facial horns are factored in, "The combined result looks like a crown," he said.
Past studies have speculated that features like this were probably used for defense, intimidation, visual communication, species recognition or attracting the opposite sex. One thing for certain is that the facial horns could have inflicted some serious damage to anyone who dared to anger this large animal, so defense and mating displays (such as fighting over coveted partners, as many horned animals do today) surely were two functions.
Hellboy's discovery was equally jarring. Geologist Peter Hews first spotted the dinosaur's fossilized bones sticking out of a cliff along what is now the Oldman River.
Aside from its uniqueness, the dinosaur is important for what it suggests about the evolution of horned dinosaurs. It has long been known that such dinos fall into one of two groups: the Chasmosaurines, which had a small horn over the nose, larger horns over the eyes, and a long frill; and the Centrosaurines, characterized by a large horn over the nose, small horns over the eyes, and a short frill.
"This new species is a Chasmosaurine, but it has ornamentation more similar to Centrosaurines," Brown said. "It also comes from a time period following the extinction of the Centrosaurines."
Hellboy's anatomy and the time in which it lived strongly suggest that the two groups of horned dinosaurs independently evolved similar features. This is known as convergent evolution.
Read more at Discovery News
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