Friday, September 30, 2011

[Paleontology • 2010] Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna • First horned dinosaur from Mexico, with the Largest Horn in Animal Kingdom



Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna, translates in part to "great horned horny face," and the dinosaur lives up to its description.
CREDIT: Lukas Panzarin


Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna [Late Cretaceous, 84 - 70 Ma]
— the Largest Horn in Animal Kingdom


First horned dinosaur from Mexico
Plant-eater had largest horns of any dinosaur

NEW DINOSAUR HAD RECORD-SIZED HORNS
The 72-million-year-old herbivore found in Mexico used its 4-foot-long horns mainly to attract mates.

Loewen, M.A., Sampson, S.D., Lund, E.K., Farke, A.A., Aguillón-Martínez, M.C., de Leon, C.A., Rodríguez-de la Rosa, R.A., Getty, M.A., Eberth, D.A., 2010, "Horned Dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae) from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Coahuila, Mexico", In: Michael J. Ryan, Brenda J. Chinnery-Allgeier, and David A. Eberth (eds), New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium, Indiana University Press, 656 pp.