New Dinosaur Species Found In Arizona Is A 'Cousin' Of Triceratops 

A new dinosaur species has been found in southern Arizona by a team of paleontologists.

The team announced this week that they have discovered a "cousin" of the Triceratops, a new dinosaur species now called Crittendenceratops krzyzanowskii. It was apparently named after Fort Crittenden Formation, the rock formation the fossils of the dinosaur were found in, and the late amateur scientist Stan Krzyzanowski, who first made the discovery.

Twenty years ago, the dinosaur fossils were first discovered buried underneath 73 million-year-old rocks southeast of Tucson. However, it was only recently that a team from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (NMMNH) studied the dinosaur bones and came to the conclusion that it was an entirely new species.

The project's lead researcher, Sebastian Dalman, told Newsweek that as a taxonomist and morphologist, he was able to determine that it was a new species after finding numerous morphological features in the dinosaur specimen.

"With the help of my good friend and co-author of other projects Jonathan Wagner, a new phylogenetic analysis was conducted that shows the relationships of Crittendenceratops to other ceratopsians," he continued.

According to their findings, the dinosaur is believed to have been 11 feet long and weighed about 1,500 pounds. Its size is comparable to an elephant, explaining it's part of the Ceratopsidae family.

"The significance of this discovery is that Crittendenceratops represents the youngest member of Nasutoceratopsini and that this group was still living in North America near the end of the Cretaceous," Dalman said. "It coexisted with two other groups of horned dinosaurs (ceratopsians): centrosaurs and chasmosaurs. It also shows that ceratopsian dinosaurs were highly diverse both morphological and taxonomical."

NMMNH curator and co-author of the research Spencer Lucas emphasized that the dinosaur species' discovery is a significant find in Arizona. He told Phoenix New Times that there have been very few dinosaurs that have been discovered in the state and noted that the area the new species lived in was "a greenhouse world."

During the Late Cretacious period, a large lake had been present in the area where the Crittendenceratops was believed to have roamed. The greenery would have attracted the dinosaur as it was a plant eater like its "cousins."

The Crittendenceratops may soon be joined by other dinosaurs as the new findings have apparently motivated Arizona scientists to continue studying other remains that have previously been discovered in the state.

"There are a lot more dinosaurs out there in Arizona to be discovered," Lucas said. "Young people need to know — you can probably go out and find a new dinosaur in Arizona."