Triceratops & Co.
The first two pieces (from last summer) were in response to the still-raging "Toroceratops" controversy. This debate began in the summer of 2010, when paleontologists Jack Horner and John Scannella declared that Torosaurus represented the final growth stage of its better-known contemporary, Triceratops. The same study also found that the even more obscure Nedoceratops represented a transition from Triceratops as we knew it to the mature, formerly-known-as-Torosaurus stage. Contrary to hyperbolic headlines from that summer, this study concluded that the names Torosaurus and Nedoceratops — not Triceratops — were scientifically obsolete and ought not to be used.
Not every paleontologist agreed with this assessment and as an amateur enthusiast, I'm still not sure what to make of it. Here's how I attempted to tackle the questions of growth, species separation, and genus determination:
1) Baby Triceratops (species unknown) from the University of California Museum of Paleontology.
2) Juvenile Triceratops (species unknown) from the Burpee Museum of Natural History.
3) Adult Triceratops horridus (the older and more southerly species) from the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale (YPM).
4) Adult Triceratops prorsus (the younger and more northerly species), also from the YPM.
5) Nedoceratops from the National Museum of Natural History. Currently known from just this skull, so it's unclear whether it's a separate genus or an outlier among Triceratops individuals. Colored version favors the latter interpretation.
6) Torosaurus from the Academy of Natural Sciences. Cited by opponents of Horner and Scannella's study as proof that Torosaurus was a separate genus.
7) Torosaurus from the YPM. Cited by Horner and Scannella as proof that Torosaurus was actually a fully-mature Triceratops.
Colored version:
The different coloration of the two Torosaurus represents these two interpretations.
NOTE: Not illustrated to scale.
Below is much more recent sketch of Eotriceratops, a earlier relative of its namesake. The white chunks represent the known bones of this animal, which in size was on par with the largest known Triceratops, if not slightly bigger.
As far as I'm aware, only Gregory S. Paul has synonymized Eotriceratops with Triceratops thus far (see The Princeton Field Guide of Dinosaurs). Until this view gains more support, I'm content depicting it as a separate genus with distinct colors and markings.
Happy Memorial Day!
The first two pieces (from last summer) were in response to the still-raging "Toroceratops" controversy. This debate began in the summer of 2010, when paleontologists Jack Horner and John Scannella declared that Torosaurus represented the final growth stage of its better-known contemporary, Triceratops. The same study also found that the even more obscure Nedoceratops represented a transition from Triceratops as we knew it to the mature, formerly-known-as-Torosaurus stage. Contrary to hyperbolic headlines from that summer, this study concluded that the names Torosaurus and Nedoceratops — not Triceratops — were scientifically obsolete and ought not to be used.
Not every paleontologist agreed with this assessment and as an amateur enthusiast, I'm still not sure what to make of it. Here's how I attempted to tackle the questions of growth, species separation, and genus determination:
1) Baby Triceratops (species unknown) from the University of California Museum of Paleontology.
2) Juvenile Triceratops (species unknown) from the Burpee Museum of Natural History.
3) Adult Triceratops horridus (the older and more southerly species) from the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale (YPM).
4) Adult Triceratops prorsus (the younger and more northerly species), also from the YPM.
5) Nedoceratops from the National Museum of Natural History. Currently known from just this skull, so it's unclear whether it's a separate genus or an outlier among Triceratops individuals. Colored version favors the latter interpretation.
6) Torosaurus from the Academy of Natural Sciences. Cited by opponents of Horner and Scannella's study as proof that Torosaurus was a separate genus.
7) Torosaurus from the YPM. Cited by Horner and Scannella as proof that Torosaurus was actually a fully-mature Triceratops.
Colored version:
The different coloration of the two Torosaurus represents these two interpretations.
NOTE: Not illustrated to scale.
Below is much more recent sketch of Eotriceratops, a earlier relative of its namesake. The white chunks represent the known bones of this animal, which in size was on par with the largest known Triceratops, if not slightly bigger.
As far as I'm aware, only Gregory S. Paul has synonymized Eotriceratops with Triceratops thus far (see The Princeton Field Guide of Dinosaurs). Until this view gains more support, I'm content depicting it as a separate genus with distinct colors and markings.
Happy Memorial Day!
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