A NEW dinosaur with gigantic blade-like horns that walked the Earth nearly 80 million years ago has been discovered in the US.
The creature, one of the largest and most ornate dinosaurs ever discovered, had two enormous horns on its back and two on its head.
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Known as Lokiceratops rangiformis, the herbivorous species lived in swamps and flooded areas in what is now North America.
It was discovered in northern Montana, just a few kilometers from the US-Canada border.
The incredible discovery was announced today in the science magazine Peer J with a replica of the dinosaur relic set to open at the Utah Museum of Natural History.
Lokiceratops is a cousin of the better-known Triceratops and was the largest horned dinosaur of its time.
The name of the new species translates to “horned face of Loki,” named after the blade-wielding Norse god Loki.
The dinosaur’s skull and partial skeleton were found at Kennedy Coulee, prompting a team of experts to perform detailed analyzes of its bones.
It was first discovered in spring 2019 and is now on display at the Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark.
It turned out to be only the fifth species of horned dinosaur ever discovered.
Most of their fellow horned dinosaurs had one on their noses – but not Lokiceratops.
This beast sported a distinct, asymmetrical spike in the middle of the frill.
The gigantic creature roamed the Earth during the Campanian stage of the late Cretaceous period, 78 million years ago.
It lived in a subtropical coastal plain covered with forests, small lakes, and swamps along the eastern coast of Laramidia.
The island continent Laramidia is now a western part of North America, formed when the continent was split 100 million years ago.
The researchers meticulously reconstructed the bones into 3D models.
They then used known specimens of dinosaur skin to replicate it in the sculpture.
Two high-quality replicas are stored at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Joseph Sertich, a paleontologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Colorado State University and co-leader of the Lokiceratops study, said: “This new dinosaur goes beyond the bizarre helmets of ceratopsians, sporting the largest frilled horns ever seen on a ceratopsian.
“These skull ornaments are one of the keys to unlocking the diversity of horned dinosaurs and demonstrate that evolutionary selection for showy displays contributed to the dizzying richness of Cretaceous ecosystems.”
Co-lead author Mark Loewen, a paleontologist at the Utah Museum of Natural History and professor in the geology department at the University of Utah, added: “Previously, paleontologists thought that at most two species of horned dinosaurs could coexist in the same place and time. Incredibly, we identified five living together at the same time.
“The skull of Lokiceratops rangiformis is dramatically different from the other four animals it lived with.”
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
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