An artist depicting Lokiceratops as it may have appeared 78 million years ago in what is now Montana.
This fancy four-legged beast discovered in Montana has ornate horns, inspiring its new scientific nameLokiceratops rangiformis.
The discovery was announced inPeerJ.
An artist depicting Lokiceratops as it may have appeared 78 million years ago in what is now Montana. (Photo:©Andrey Atuchin for the Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark, CC BY-NC-ND)
Lokiceratops rangiformiswas a massive beast that roamed Earth about 78 million years ago.
Stretching 22 feet long and weighing 11,000 pounds, the dinosaur walked on four legs.
It had a plant-based diet.
Renditions of four centrosaurine dinosaurs who roamed together. (Photo:Fabrizio Lavezzi © Evolutionsmuseet, Knuthenborg, CC BY-NC-ND)
As a ceratopsid, a key in of horned dinosaur, its skull evidences its unique cranial structure.
It boasts two regular horns on its forehead.
Above that is a large bone frill that fans out behind the head.
A Lokiceratops skull at the Museum of Evolution. (Photo:Museum of Evolution, CC BY-NC-ND)
Atop this frill are two unique curling horns with tiny adjoining points, one smaller than the other.
Lokiceratopsalso indicates that dinosaurs in the Montana and Alberta regions were more diverse and swiftly evolving than previously thought.
Renditions of four centrosaurine dinosaurs who roamed together.
