Expert: David Prus - 6/8/2009

Question
hi-can you tell me what parts of torosaurus have they acutally found-various books state they have the skulls and front leg and even hip bones.how many more parts have they got?
can you tell me more information on the large triceratops bones at the national museum -washington-they are many photos of them -but not alot of information -
one site said they are triceratops maximus since they are very big.can you tell me more about them?
thanks

Answer
That's pretty much it for Torosaurus-skulls, legs, hips, and parts of the vertebrae. It was a pretty rare dinosaur compared to Triceratops.

The Smithstonian specimen is about 20 feet long and one of the very first specimens ever of the genus. Here's the museum website:http://www.mnh.si.edu/highlight/triceratops/
It's assigned under T. horridus, found by John Bell Hatcher in Wyoming.

T. maximus was found in Montana by Barnum Brown, consisting of ribs, vertebra, and one 9-foot-long skull. Unfortunately, the species is very obscure and many of the fossils have been lost.

For more on Triceratops and other horned dinosaurs, I suggest Peter Dodson's "The Horned Dinosaurs". For T. Maximus, I suggest "Maximum Triceratops" by Robert Bakker.

I hope this helps.