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Re: Aquatic dinosaurs
From: Dinogeorge@aol.com
> Looked at the right way, it almost seems as if _Diceratops_ is
> indeed morphologically intermediate between _Torosaurus_ and
> _Triceratops_, though significantly closer to _Triceratops_.
Exactly - AND, except for being a bit late, _Diceratops_ seems like the
direct ancestor of _Triceratops horridus_. [The known species of
Torosaurus are far too late in time to be likely direct ancestors,
however].
Further, _T. horridus_ is almost certainly the direct ancestor of _T.
prorsus_, since it has no autapomorphies that I could determine.
This produces a fairly interesting chain:
basal Torosaurus => Diceratops => T. horridus => T. prorsus
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