New Horned Dinosaur Discovered: Wendiceratops Pinhornensis

A new horned dinosaur, Wendiceratops Pinhornensis, was discovered based on fossils collected in Southern Alberta Canada. Around 200 bones discovered in the Canadian bone bed represented at least four of these dinosaur species.

The new species of dinosaur, which lived during the late Cretaceous period around 79 million years ago, is around 20 feet long and weighed more than a ton. The dinosaur had a series of forward-curling hook-like horns along the margin of the wide and a shield-like frill that projects from the back of its skull. It also had a large, upright horn on the nose and although there were no bones discovered to prove this, the scientists believe that there were horns over the eyes as well (The dinosaur on exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum had reconstructed horns over the eyes; see image below). Because of these horned features, the Wendiceratops is one of the most striking horned dinosaurs ever found.

The dinosaur is named after renowned fossil hunter Wendy Sloboda, who discovered the site in 2010.

New Horned Dinosaur Nasutoceratops Titusi Discovered in Utah

A new horned dinosaur named Nasutoceratops titusi has been discovered in Southern Utah. At the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in southern Utah, a skull a previously unknown type of dinosaur was found. It had certain unique features that stand out such as an oversized nose and elongate, forward-curving horns over the eyes. GSENM encompasses around 1.9 million acres of high desert terrain in south-central Utah.

The name Nasutoceratops Titusi means big-nosed horned face (nasutoceratops) and also in honor of paleontologist Alan Titus (titusi).

The dinosaur is estimated to be 15 feet long and waighs about 2.50 tons. It was a four legged herbivore and belongs to the same family as that of the Triceratops and existed around 76 million years ago.

The area where the fossil was found used to be a swampy subtropical island continent known as Laramidia. Laramidia existed during the Late Cretaceous period ( 84 million to 70 million years ago) and stretched from Alaska to New Mexico.

Nasutoceratops belongs to the ceratopsids family, a group of big-bodied horned dinosaurs. It is the same family as that of the Triceratops, the most popular dinosaur in the group. More specifically, the Nasutoceratops are members of the subset of ceratopsids known as "centrosaurines," with Avaceratops being the closest known relative within this smaller subset of horned dinosaurs.

Another horned dinosaur that lived in what is now Alberta Canada, Spinops sternbergorum, was discovered two years ago.