Sunday, June 7, 2015

Agathaumas, or is it Regaliceratops?

So a cool new dinosaur was just recently announced: Regaliceratops, the "regal" part referring to the "crown-of-horns" on its frill. The internet of course can't stop talking about the fact that its discoverers nicknamed it "Hellboy". (Mike Mignola may or may not draw the original Hellboy riding one someday. We'll see!) But discussion of the creature itself is best left to the professionals. See this article by Brian Switek for more information.

My motivation for writing this blog post stems entirely from my realization that Regaliceratops looks a heck of a lot like a classic Charles Knight painting of Agathaumas from all the way back in 1897. Now the thing is, Agathaumas named on the basis of some pretty sparse remains (some scientists even debate whether it deserves its own name), so Charles Knight pretty much outright invented his interpretation of the beast, combining traits of Triceratops, Styracosaurus, and Monoclonius (another dubious genus). And wouldn't you know it, the *ahem* convergence in appearance is absolutely uncanny!

Julius Csotonyi's Regaliceratops on left, Charles Knight's Agathaumas on right

The only significant difference I see (correcting for changing trends in paleoart) is the thickness of the horns jutting from the frill. Pretty close if you ask me. Anyway, I don't have anything more profound to say, so that's all for now. Just spreading the word!

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