They call him “Hellboy,” and it’s easy to see why. Had you been there when it lived 68 million years ago in what is now Alberta province, Canada, you would not have wanted to mess with this horned dino, a close relative of the famed Triceratops. In addition to the sharp horns on its nose and over its eyes, which were probably used for defense against predators like Tyrannosaurus rex, this new species—dubbed Regaliceratops peterhewsi—had a particularly ornate frill behind its head, most likely for sexual display.
Although he is definitely a cousin of Triceratops, his horns and frill more closely resemble those of another group of horned dinos that includes Centrosaurus and which were already extinct when Hellboy came along. That means the new dino’s ornamentation is a case of independent evolutionary invention (also known as convergent evolution), the authors say.
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