RE: Intraspecific Combat in Ceratopsians

["Andrew Farke" <andyfarke@hotmail.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu] On Behalf Of
> Jordan Mallon
> Subject: RE: Intraspecific Combat in Ceratopsians

> Rothschild and Tanke (1997) reported on a pathologic skull of
> _Pachyrhinosaurus_ that preserves what seem to be, according to the
> authors,
> puncture wounds that fit a couple of horncores labelled "Monoclonius."
> For
> more, see:
> 
> Rothschild, B. M., and D. Tanke.  1997.  Thunder in the Cretaceous:
> Inter-species conflict as evidence for ceratopsian migration?, in: D. L.
> Wolberg, D. Stump, and G. Rosenberg, editors, Dinofest International:
> Proceedings of a Symposium Held at Arizona State University.
> Philadelphia:
> Academy of Natural Sciences, pp. 77-81.

I'm not totally convinced by the hypothesis outlined for the specimen. I've
seen the original, and there is a lot of really funky stuff going on in the
skull. Really, really funky stuff. That animal was not a happy camper, no
matter what happened to it.

Darren and I will discuss this specimen briefly in a forthcoming paper, and
compare what's going on in there with what we've seen in other specimens.

> Don't know of any other interspecific fighting reports, though I know Andy
> Farke might have something to say about INTRAspecific combat in
> ceratopsians...

Absolutely. WFTP (or get the preview in the SVP abstract). ;-)

Andy

________________________________
Andrew A. Farke, Graduate Student
Department of Anatomical Sciences
Stony Brook University
T8 040 Health Sciences Center
Stony Brook, NY  11794-8081
 
Phone: 631-444-7364