Scientists uncover first clear proof of horned dinosaurs in Cretaceous Europe

Researchers have found essentially the most compelling proof but that horned dinosaurs – the group that features the well-known Triceratops – lived in Europe throughout the Late Cretaceous interval. The breakthrough analysis, revealed in Nature, reveals that a number of dinosaur species lengthy believed to be family of Iguanodon have been in actual fact early ceratopsians.

The worldwide research, involving scientists from the Natural History Museum and universities throughout Europe, consists of key contributions from Professor Richard Butler on the University of Birmingham. The findings affirm that Ajkaceratops, a species first described in 2010 however thought-about controversial on account of fragmentary stays, is a real ceratopsian – and that it lived round 84 million years in the past on the island archipelagos that after made up Cretaceous Europe.

Ceratopsian fossils are plentiful in Asia and North America, but have been virtually utterly absent from Europe. Until now, proof on the continent consisted solely of a handful of incomplete and debated specimens. The discovery of latest, extra full fossils of Ajkaceratops prompted a contemporary investigation utilizing CT scanning and detailed evolutionary evaluation.

These analyses revealed that:

• Ajkaceratops is definitively a ceratopsian
• Another dinosaur beforehand labeled as a rhabdodontid, Mochlodon, seems to signify the identical species
• Additional European dinosaurs traditionally positioned inside Rhabdodontidae have been seemingly misidentified and are additionally ceratopsians

This reclassification considerably reshapes the scientific understanding of Late Cretaceous ecosystems in Europe.