The dinosaur's new species, Regaliceratops Peterhewsi (a reconstructed image drawn by an artist), has three short, thick horns on the upper part of its eyes, which reminds its discoverers of the character of the "Hellboy" in the comics.
Draft: JULIUS T. CSOTONYI. Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta
Written by: Devin Powell
Doesn't this new dinosaur species have a particularly domineering nickname: "Hellboy," doesn't that sound a little scary?
Paleontologists excavated the fossil skull of this horned monster on a cliff in Canada, and due to the difficulties and difficulties in the excavation process, they gave it the title of "Hellboy".
It wasn't until skull fossils were unearthed that paleontologists discovered the pop-cultural connection between the new species and its nickname.
"The newly discovered dinosaur species has short, thick horns above its eyes, which fits well with the image of the Hellboy in the comic book," said Caleb Brown, a paleontologist at the Royal Canadian Tyrell Museum and also the study's leader.
Compared to his cousins, the Horns on the Forehead of the Hellboy are much smaller, but the horns of his nose and mouth are large, and his head has a ring of ornate frills.
The frilled protrusions of the head are so subtle that they are "simply shocking," one scientist said.
Photo: SUE SABROWSKI, Royal Tyrrell Museum
The Latin scientific name of the "Hellboy" is Regaliceratops Peterhewski, inspired by its crowned headdress, Regaliceratops means "royal horn" in Latin; Peterhewski is derived from the name of Peter Hews, a geologist who first discovered the fossil a decade ago.
"The size of these frills is so shocking," said David Evans, a paleontologist at the Royal Museum of Ontario in Canada who was not involved in the study. "If they had been found separately, they would most likely have been mistaken for the bones of stegosaurus."
Gorgeous headdresses
The Hellboy is the latest member of the horned herbivorous family of Greeratops, who lived during the Cretaceous period 68 million years ago.
The Latin name Regaliceratops, though somewhat exaggerated, best reflects the characteristics of "Hellboy": Triceratops and other Plesiosaurs of the same period were more conservative, and their frills were smoother and plainer.
Interestingly, the Sharphorns were also known for their ornate and elaborate frills, but they were not related to the Hellboy and were extinct millions of years earlier than the Hellboy.
The reason why the "Hellboy" has obtained a retro trendy face should be thanks to convergent evolution, that is, different organisms, even organisms that are far apart in evolution, if they live in the same environment, under the same selection pressure, it is possible to produce the same function or very similar morphological structure, such as sharks and dolphins in the ocean have similar streamlined bodies.
Expect the unknown
In the Horned Dragon family, the Hellboy was not the first person to possess a gorgeous headdress. Recent discoveries suggest that during the age of the sharp-horned dragon, there were also relatives of the "HellBoy", such as the gorgeous horned dragon 76 million years ago, who was the first horned dragon with exquisite headdress.
"Whenever you think you've seen all the novel dinosaur species, the strange horned dragon reappears." —Nick Longrich, paleontologist, University of Bath
The ornate horned dragon head has a lot of decorations, the most known dinosaurs, and the head has 15 horns, some of which grow on the forehead and curve downward like bangs. The Hellboy has tiny horns above his eyes, and these curved protrusions should serve as a little protection from predators and possibly attract mates, like peacock feathers.
As the family tree of the Ceratopsa continued to expand, paleontologists began to prepare for more unknowns.
"Whenever you think you've seen all the novel dinosaur species, the bizarre horned dragon comes back," said Nick Longrich, a paleontologist at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the new study. "In the future, many more exotic new members of the Horned Dragon family may emerge."
(Translator: Strange Flowers Blossom)