Triceratops maximus and stuff

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

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu] On Behalf Of
> Vlad Petnicki
> Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 1:59 AM
> To: Tetanurae@aol.com
> Cc: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Re: Fw: Ceratopsian Frills
> 
> Trceratops MAXIMUS - an old name given by Barnum Brown
> to some fragmentary Triceratops fossils (including a
> HUGE neck) that seemed to indicate the King of all
> Horned-faces;  well, a few years ago they found the
> King's head, it seems.  Still being examined in the BYU
> basement. A short-frilled Triceratops skull that is
> (get ready here!!) 9-10 FEET in LENGTH!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Luis Rey illustrated Dr. Bakker's recent kids' book by
> that name.
> 
> To learn more, go HERE:
> 
> http://www.luisrey.ndtilda.co.uk/html/maxtops.htm

Wow, those are some cool illustrations from Luis! :-)

The big problem with the whole Triceratops maximus affair is that the
specimen consists of eight vertebrate and two ribs. As the discussions today
have indicated, we know very little about how ceratopsian postcrania scale
with skulls between taxa, let alone within taxa!

That said, the T. maximus specimen *is* pretty big. It'd be really nice if
we just had more good Triceratops specimens to understand the proportions,
size, etc., of this animal. Now if only people would quit worrying about T.
rex and actually dig up those Triceratops skeletons they're tripping over. .
;-)

And yes, it'd be really nice to see the BYU specimen dusted off and
described. My few notes on the specimen indicate that the skull is from the
Hell Creek Formation of Montana, and that the orbital horns are missing and
the posterior portion of the frill is also gone. Basal skull length is about
1.2 m, which is pretty much the same size as the big Triceratops on display
in St. Paul. My real suspicion about this specimen is that it is one of
those "fish stories," in which the specimen becomes bigger with every
telling. Sorta like all of those T. rex specimens, which seem to shrink by
an amazing amount once someone actually measures the things.

Just my thoughts on this.

Andy