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Rhino like dinosaur9/23/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Instead, different horned dinosaurs, duckbills, tyrannosaurs, and raptors lived in different parts of the continent.Īs paleontologists have moved from well-known hunting grounds into more poorly known territories, new species have emerged. As paleontologists collect new skeletons and restudy old fossils, they have found that the same species did not live everywhere. The discovery is part of a wave of new dinosaur discoveries that has emerged from North America in recent years. ![]() They were major members of Late Cretaceous ecosystems in North America, and were preyed on by tyrannosaurs.Ĭomparing features of Sierraceratops with other known ceratopsid dinosaurs helped the research team trace its evolutionary relationships to other horned dinosaurs. Horned dinosaurs were large, rhino-like herbivores that likely lived in groups or herds. Sierraceratops is related to but predates its relative Triceratops by some 6 million years. Like other ceratopsids, it was a quadrupedal plant eater. Sierraceratops had a large skull, about 5 feet long, and its overall length was about 15 feet. Key features that distinguish Sierraceratops from other horned dinosaurs are its short but massive brow horns, and the anatomy of the dinosaur’s frill bones. It turned out to be a new species, unrelated to dinosaurs previously discovered from the northern part of the continent. Over twenty years later, NMMNHS paleontology student Sebastian Dalman re-examined the skeleton, along with colleagues Spencer Lucas, Steve Jasinski, and Nick Longrich. The fossils of the new species, which included parts of the skull and skeleton from one individual, were found in Late Cretaceous rocks of the Hall Lake Formation near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.Ī partial skeleton was dug up in the late 1990s and were originally identified as belonging to Torosaurus. The research team, led by New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science (NMMNHS) and including Dr Nick Longrich at the University of Bath, published their findings in the journal Cretaceous Research. The species name turneri honours Ted Turner, founder of the Cable News Network (CNN), who owns the ranch where the fossil was discovered and permitted its collection by paleontologists and volunteers. Sierraceratops, refers to Sierra County, New Mexico, where the fossil was discovered, and to the group of which the species is a part, Ceratopsidae. Its discovery hints that many dinosaurs still remain to be discovered in North America. The new dinosaur, Sierraceratops turneri, lived in New Mexico about 72 million years ago. (Credit: New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science)Ī fossil found over twenty years ago on the ranch of CNN founder Ted Turner has been discovered to be a new species of horned dinosaur (ceratopsid) not previously found in North America. Sierraceratops predates its relative Triceratops, and measured around 15 feet in length. ![]()
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