Descendant of Triceratops Discovered
Scientists have discovered a 65,000,000 year old fossilized scull of a terrestrial archosaurian reptile believed to be a direct descendant of Triceratops [T. horridus]. The new discovery made in Western Turkey has been named Quinceratops [T. pentcomus], because of its five horns. Like its three horned ancestor the herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur Quinceratops was also a strict vegetarian, thought to have lived mainly on bushes and plants that were close to the ground and on cycads, a type of plant common in the Cretaceous period.
The evolutionary development of the five horned Quinceratops made this vegetarian into a fearsome looking animal, more than capable of defending itself against its carnivorous dinosaur cousins. Apart from having two additional horns Quinceratops is essentially identical in all other respects to its three horned predecessor.
Standing at a height of 2.5 meters Quinceratops is thought to have been a herding animal. The sight of a herd of Quinceratops charging towards its enemy must have been a formidable sight, each one brandishing a set of five sharp horns backed by four tonnes of leather clad muscle. Even Tyrannosaurus Rex would have beaten a hasty retreat.
Scientists are puzzled by the location of the Quinceratops scull in Turkey since Triceratops was a native of North America.
The development of two additional horns is thought to have been the result of evolutionary pressure from an increase in numbers of its natural enemy Tyrannosaurus Rex and its new enemy in Asia, Tarbosaurus bataar.
Quinceratops was among the last of the dinosaur species to evolve before the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction.
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