Scientists have named a newly discovered dinosaur species Mojoceratops after its flamboyant, heart-shaped skull.
A newly-discovered dinosaur with a heart-shaped frill around its head got its name from a combination of its flamboyant noggin and a round of beers.
The now officially-named Mojoceratops was discovered and named by paleontologist Nicholas Longrich, a postdoctoral associate at Yale University. Longrich had wanted a moniker that matched the outlandish head of the beast, and he came up with it over a few beers one night with fellow paleontologists.
"It was just a joke, but then everyone stopped and looked at each other and said, Wait that actually sounds cool,'" Longrich said. "I tried to come up with serious names after that, but Mojoceratops just sort of stuck."
The dinosaur is one of more than a dozen species belonging to the chasmosaurine ceratopsid family, which are defined by elaborate frills on their skulls.
A plant eater about the size of a hippopotamus, Mojoceratops appeared about 75 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous 10 million years earlier than its well-known cousin, the Triceratops.
The species, which is related to another dinosaur in Texas, is found only in Canada's Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces and was short-lived, having survived for only about one million years.
What's in a name
It was only after coming up with the unusual name that Longrich looked into its etymology. Surprisingly, he found that it was a perfect fit for the species, with its heart-shaped frill on its head. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3815 ... nd_science-science/作者:
華dee 時間: 2010-7-27 04:23 PM
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