A new species of herbivorous dinosaur with giant horns, named “loki-ceratops rangiformis”was discovered in an excavation in a swampy area in the state of Montana (USA), just a few kilometers from the border with Canada, announced the scientific magazine PeerJ.
This new dinosaursports the largest frilled horns ever seen on a ceratopsian (infraorder of dinosaurs),” explained Joseph Sertich, paleontologist at the Smithsonian Institution and Colorado State University, and co-director of the research.
More than 78 million years ago, the lokiceratops They inhabited the swamps and plains along the eastern coast of Laramidia, now the western part of North America.
These four-legged dinosaurs had a mouth full of more than 200 sharp teeth for cutting vegetation, were approximately 6.7 meters long and weighed about five tons.
The new species of dinosaur was named in honor of “Loki”
The unique features of lokiceratops rangiformisaccording to experts, are the absence of a horn on the nose, huge curved, blade-like horns on the back of the frill – the largest ever found on a horned dinosaur and a distinctive, asymmetrical tip in the middle of the steering wheel.
Reason it was given name lokiceratopsmeaning “horned face of Loki,” in honor of the Norse god Lokiwho wields a sword.
The second name, rangiformisrefers to the different lengths of the horns on each side of the steering wheelsimilar to the asymmetrical antlers of caribou and reindeer.
The centrosaurus
Analysis by the study team suggests that a family of horned dinosaurs, the centrosauruses, underwent rapid evolution and lived in relatively small geographic areas across the landmass of Laramidia Island.
The study of this new species was funded by the Museum of Evolution, the University of Utah and the National Science Foundation.
He lokiceratops It was first discovered and excavated by Mark Eatman during the spring of 2019 and is now displayed at the Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark.
Research-quality replicas are also located at the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada, and the Utah Museum of Natural History, USA.
