Two New Gaps in the Fossil Record

I love it when these kinds of news stories hit the popular media. A new species of dinosaur was discovered by Michael Ryan in Alberta while he was a graduate student, and the find has now been published in the Journal of Paleontology, according to MSNBC. The dinosaur species is named Albertaceratops nesmoi, and it provides an intermediate between earlier, long-horned dinosaurs and more recent, shorter horned forms. (Note: I am not a subscriber to the journal, nor a paleontologist, and do not have access to the original article.)

To quote:

That makes the newly found creature an intermediate between older forms with large horns and later small-horned relatives, said State of Utah paleontologist Jim Kirkland, who with Douglas Wolfe identified Zuniceratops in New Mexico in 1998. He predicted then that something like Ryan’s find would turn up.

Of course, our creationist buddies will certainly both fail to see this as an intermediate, and point out that there are huge unfilled gaps to either side, thus inspiring my title after the fact. 🙂