A new dinosaur species has been discovered in northern Montana, according to researchers. The plant-eating dinosaur, named Lokiceratops rangiformis, is said to be one of the largest and most ornate ever found. The discovery was reported in the scientific journal PeerJ. The dinosaur was excavated from the badlands of northern Montana, near the USA-Canada border, and is believed to have lived over 78 million years ago in the swamps and floodplains along the eastern shore of Laramidia, an island continent that existed around 100 million years ago when a great seaway divided North America.
The Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark, was where the fossil remains of Lokiceratops were discovered in 2019. The dinosaur’s skull has been reconstructed and will be on display at the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City for the next six months. The dinosaur is a member of the ceratopsids, a group of horned dinosaurs that evolved around 92 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period and survived until the end of the dinosaur era.
Lokiceratops is unique due to its distinct features, such as the absence of a nose horn, huge blade-like horns on the back of its frill – the largest ever found on a horned dinosaur, and an asymmetric spike in the middle of the frill. The dinosaur is also known for having differing horn lengths on each side of the frill, similar to the antlers of caribou and reindeer. The name Lokiceratops translates to ‘Loki’s horned face,’ in honor of the Norse god Loki, while rangiformis refers to the varying horn lengths on the frill.
The discovery of Lokiceratops sheds light on the diversity of horned dinosaurs during the Late Cretaceous period and their evolution over millions of years. The reconstruction of the dinosaur’s skull and a full-size sculpture will allow visitors to the Natural History Museum of Utah to learn more about this remarkable creature. The museum describes Lokiceratops as a behemoth among horned dinosaurs, which diversified into a wide variety of species with fantastic ornaments and survived until the end of the dinosaur era.