North Carolina State University. 17th September, 2014. Hadrosaur with huge nose discovered: Function of dinosaur's unusual trait a mystery. ScienceDaily. Accessed 20 September, 2014.
Gates, T . Scheetz, R. 2014. A new saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Campanian of Utah, North America. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. doi:10.1080/14772019.2014.950614.
The article discussed the discovery of the new dinosaur species. The article primarily cited the main points of the paper such as the Rhinorex condrupus having a unique head structure. This species was about 30 feet long and weighed over 8500 pounds. Discovery of this species will help scientists fill in the gap of unknown history for the hadrosaur.
The News article makes the single claim that a new dinosaur species has been discovered. The Rhinorex condrupus is said to have been a type of hadrosaur. North Carolina State University (NCU), the news articles author, comically likened its discovery to it being the Jimmy Durante of dinosaurs, most likely to give the readers a starting point for visualizing the creature. The original paper never made such an analogy, but Gates and Scheetz -the authors- note that the species was unique. The name Rhinorex translates to “King Nose” and the species was said to be related to other “Cretaceous hadrosaurs like Parasaurolophus and Edmontosaurus. Hadrosaurs were said to have bony crests extending from their skulls, but the Edmontosaur differed because its crest was fleshy. The Rhinorex differed from both of the other species because it had a huge nose instead of the crest. It is also distinguished from other hadrosaurid species "by lack of lateral flaring” (Gates and Scheetz).
Yes, things from the conclusion of the original paper were mentioned. Gates and Scheetz conclude that this new species originated from what would be modern day Utah and NCU mentions it as well. The news article also mentions the coastal habitual environment concluded to house this creature. There was also the mention of the different skull arrangements of the hadrosaurs and environmental preferences giving rise to the different species.
The original paper strongly implies that the authors have strong confidence in their discovery. They reference North American hadrosaurid taxa as being relatively sparse for certain prehistoric time periods, thus this species is important for understanding shifts in hadrosaurid diversity during that time. The news article mentions Rhinorex condrupus being the answer to the gap in hadrosaur history during the late Cretaceous.
The news article brings questions how this species would have benefited from a large nose. This implication does follow from the conclusions of the work because it relates back to each species having different skull structures to suit their environments. The broader question is how the larger nose benefited their coastal environment.
There was no previous work denying the existence of this new species so the original scientists had nothing to refute.
The news article did not present any other hypotheses. The article presented Gates and Sheetzs work from a point of intrigue.