Sarah George, the Utah Museum of Natural History's executive director, called it "a spectacular new dinosaur." Its unearthing resulted from "a wonderful partnership," she said. Partners in the project were the U.; the Utah Geological Survey; Coordinacion de Paleontologia, Mexico; other experts in Mexico; and the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada.

Martha Carolina Aguillon found the skeleton in 1995 near the town Rincon Colorado, 27 miles west of Saltillo, Mexico. Jim Kirkland, who was to become the Utah state paleontologist, led excavations there. Later, when he became state paleontologist, Kirkland invited Scott Sampson of the U. and his students to help with the dig.

Sampson, a paleontologist at the U., led two expeditions to the state of Coahuila, Mexico, with funding from the National Geographic Society and the U. Researchers from Mexico, Canada and the United States worked on the project, the U. says in a press release.

In rugged, dry terrain, the fossilized bones reached into a hillside where the rock was extremely hard. In 2002, the crew was armed with a jackhammer, Sampson said. They broke through 12 feet of hardened sediment and excavated the skeleton, "down to the skull."

Sampson said the discovery is part of a new window that has opened onto the Cretaceous. The view through the window is a surprising one. "You're finding different elephant-size animals' than lived during the period in Utah or Canada, he said.

"Picture multiple species of elephant on this little, narrow land mass."

Gates said the animal died in an estuary where salt water and fresh water came together. As it deteriorated, it fell apart, and putting it back together was like assembling a jigsaw puzzle.

The crest's purpose may have been to make sounds to attract the opposite sex, or for "ornate displays" on the head, or even could have been used to make noises so the duckbills could track each other, or might have been intended to scare off predators, according to Gates.

Most of Velafrons coahuilensis' skeleton remains in Mexico, but the skull was in Utah for the announcement. Gates, a paleontologist with the Utah Museum of Natural History, said the skull would travel back to Mexico, probably today. A cast of the skull should be on display at the museum in a couple of months, he added.

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com