Mercuriceratops Gemini is a newly-identified dinosaur species, first discovered in Montana and Alberta, Canada. The animals sported a bony frill on its head, looking like the helmet worn by the Roman God Mercury.
The name is derived from "Mercury horned-face." Nearly identical specimens were discovered in the two locations, earning the species the name Gemini.
Fossils collected in Canada were unearthed by Susan Owen-Kagen of the University of Alberta. The American find was made on private land and came into the possession of the Royal Ontario Museum. The twin finds helped confirm that neither creature was a biological abnormally, or distorted by the process of fossilization.
"Mercuriceratops took a unique evolutionary path that shaped the large frill on the back of its skull into protruding wings like the decorative fins on classic 1950s cars. It definitively would have stood out from the herd during the Late Cretaceous," Michael Ryan, of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, said.
They were around 20 feet long, and weighed more than 4,000 pounds. The creatures roamed the land around 77 million years ago.
Researchers speculate that the frills were used for defense, as well as to attract mates. These structures have never been seen before in similar species. In addition to its wing-like head plates, the species also had a beak, similar to that of a giant parrot.
"Mercuriceratops shows that evolution gave rise to much greater variation in horned dinosaur headgear than we had previously suspected," David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum told the press.
The Late Cretaceous Period during which the creatures lived was marked by a rise in the number of plant, flower and insect species. The era ended when an asteroid the size of Mount Everest collided with Earth 65 million years ago, ending the age of the dinosaurs.
Ryan and Evans have a long history of identifying dinosaur fossils in the area. Alberta is one of the best spots in the world to find remains of the ancient animals. The Southern Alberta Dinosaur Project aims to fill in gaps of knowledge in the biological record.
"This discovery of a previously unknown species in relatively well-studied rocks underscores that we still have many more new species of dinosaurs to left to find," Mark Loewen, from the Natural History Museum of Utah, told the press.
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History released a video about M. Gemini, comparing the dinosaur to a "sweet car" driven by a teenager. The short film is hosted by Ryan.
Study of Mercuriceratops Gemini was published in the journal Naturwissenschaften (the Science of Nature).
