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One-third of all dinosaur species may never have existed | New analyses may wipe out one-third of dinosaur species, with a recent research leading to two dinosaurs being wiped out, as they were not separate species, but different growth stages of previously named dinosaurs. Paleontologists from the University of California
(UC), Berkeley, and the Museum of the Rockies discounted the two species of dome-headed
dinosaurs. Their demise comes after a three-horned dinosaur, Torosaurus, was assigned
to the dustbin of history last month at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
meeting in the United Kingdom. The loss comes in wake of quite a few duck-billed
hadrosaurs and the probable disappearance of Nanotyrannus, a supposedly miniature
Tyrannosaurus rex. These dinosaurs were not separate species, as some paleontologists
claim, but different growth stages of previously named dinosaurs, according to
a new study. The confusion is traced to their bizarre head ornaments, ranging
from shields and domes to horns and spikes, which changed dramatically with age
and sexual maturity, making the heads of youngsters look very different from those
of adults. "Juveniles and adults of these dinosaurs look very, very different
from adults, and literally may resemble a different species," said dinosaur expert
Mark B. Goodwin, assistant director of UC Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology. "But
some scientists are confusing morphological differences at different growth stages
with characteristics that are taxonomically important. The result is an inflated
number of dinosaurs in the late Cretaceous," he added. Unlike the original dinosaur
die-off at the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago, this loss of
species is the result of a sustained effort by paleontologists to collect a full
range of dinosaur fossils - not just the big ones. Their work has provided dinosaur
specimens of various ages, allowing computed tomography (CT) scans and tissue
study of the growth stages of dinosaurs. In fact, Horner suggests that one-third
of all named dinosaur species may never have existed, but are merely different
stages in the growth of other known dinosaurs. |
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