(PhysOrg.com) -- Research by a Montana State University doctoral
student and one of the nation's top paleontologists is upending
more than 100 years of thought regarding the dinosaurs known as
Triceratops and Torosaurus. Since the late 1800s, scientists
have believed that Triceratops and Torosaurus were two different
types of dinosaurs. Triceratops had a three-horned skull with a
rather short frill, whereas Torosaurus had a much bigger frill
with two large holes through it. MSU paleontologists John
Scannella and Jack Horner said in the July 14 issue of the
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, however, that Triceratops
and Torosaurus are actually the same dinosaur at different
stages of growth. They added that the discovery contributes to
an unfolding theory that dinosaur diversity was extremely
depleted at the end of the dinosaur age. The Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology is the official journal of the Society
of Vertebrate Paleontology. Scannella is a doctoral student in
earth sciences, and Horner is Regents