Posted: Sep 04, 2013 7:52 pm
SkyMutt wrote:theropod wrote:Yeah, BUT...
We DO have specimens of baby, or at least young, Triceratops. They look like supposed adult Triceratops. Cute as hell. The fact is these could be closely related, showing the same thinning at the right area, and still be distinct species. Look at the skeletal elements of the Galapagos finches to get an idea of what I mean. Until I see confirming findings I remain skeptical.
This is all said without reading the paper...Anyone got linky?
RS
Sorry, all instances I found were behind paywalls. However, there's a somewhat better article about the paper at the Smithsonian website.
On the other hand, a more recent paper seems to call the conclusions of the 2010 Scannella, Horner paper into question.
Thanks for the second link, as I thought I'd read a summary of that finding.
I've worked with what had to have been a full grown adult Triceratops skull on a months long basis, maybe over a year from field to near completion of the right side alone. This was the side of the skull that was "as found" or "up" and had minimal matrix removal prior to jacketing. Actually it was lying on its left side with a slight upward tilt at the distal end, as if it had stuck it's face into the mud. Anyway, this thing was nearly 5 feet (1.75 meters) long, and the half of the frill we had exposed was a nearly third that wide. If the damned thing got much larger, as all dinosaurs did as they aged, it would have been a monster. Unless you've been in close proximity to a Triceratops skull one really can't appreciate the critters. It took some heavy machines to get the jacket to the lab, and an angle grinder to open it. WAY over a ton. Lizards indeed. This same locale had several post cranial elements that we collected, but I didn't get a chance to open those jackets before my term "there" ended. I don't know if those specimens were from the same individual that provided the skull, but there was a good chance. Scavengers alone could have accounted for the dispersal over a area where this was all found.
Like I said, I think there are too many attempts to lump dinosaur species. Look at my sig and think about it.
RS