Scientists digging in south-central Utah found two new species of ceratopsians in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, in the Kaiparowits Formation. They found a specimen with a particularly large horn over the nose and a massive head which they dubbed Utahceratops gettyi. They also found a very ornately-ornamented specimen with a total of 15 horns on its head which they called Kosmoceratops richardsoni.
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| Top: Utahceratops gettyi Bottom: Kosmoceratops richardsoni |
Both dinosaurs lived on the ancient landmass of Laramidia, which was formed when a late Cretaceous inland seaway split the North American continent in half into the western landmass of Laramidia and the eastern landmass of Appalachia. Many fossils have been found in the northern part of the ancient Laramidia landmass, but until recently fossils from the southern portion have been lacking. The National Monument in southern Utah has produced an abundance of fossil specimens and may begin to make up the disparity between northern and southern fossils.
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| Utahceratops |
Further analysis could provide answers to many questions, such as why there was not a lot of exchange between dinosaurs in the northern and southern parts of Laramidia (a physical barrier?) or why there was such a high diversity of large animals living in a relatively small area (there were about two dozen different species of large dinosaurs living on a landmass a quarter of the size of the African continent).
For the scientific paper: New Horned Dinosaurs from Utah Provide Evidence for Intracontinental Dinosaur Endemism
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