New Dinosaur Species Announced

December 6, 2011 by Conner Flynn

Science

A new species of horned dinosaur has been announced by an international team of scientists. It’s called Spinops sternbergorum and it lived about 76 million years ago in southern Alberta, Canada. This species was a two ton plant-eater. It had a single large horn on the top of its nose and a bony neck frill, with two long, backward-facing spikes with two forward-pointing hooks.
The initial discovery was made in 1916 when parts of the Spinops skull were discovered by a father-and-son team who sent the fossils to The Natural History Museum in London. But the story almost ended there. The fossils were deemed unworthy of exhibit and were tucked away for years. Paleontologists eventually realized their importance and so they were cleaned for further study. The rest, as they say, is history.
Spinops sternbergorum, means “Sternbergs’ spine face” named for the father and son team that initially discovered the fossils and the headgear of the animal. The face of the Spinops is similar to Centrosaurus and Styracosaurus, which are close relatives.