They discovered a new species of herbivorous dinosaurs with giant horns

A new species of herbivorous dinosaur with giant horns, called Locyceratops rangiformis, was discovered during excavations in a swampy area in Montana, USA, near the border with Canada. The discovery was reported by a scientific journal PirJ this Thursday.

Locyceratops is a cThe largest frilly horns ever seen in ceratopsians, according to Joseph Sertich, a paleontologist at the Smithsonian Institution and Colorado State University and co-principal investigator of the study.

More than 78 million years ago, Locyceratops They inhabited swamps and plains along the eastern coast of Laramidia, now western North America. These four-legged dinosaurs had a mouth with more than 200 sharp teeth, ideal for cutting vegetation. They were approximately 6.7 meters long and weighed about five tons.

Distinctive features of Lokiceratops rangiformis include the absence of a nasal horn, huge curved horns on the back of the frill, and an asymmetrical tip at the center of the frill. These horns are the largest ever found. on a horned dinosaur. The name Locyceratops, which means “Loki’s horned face”, pays homage to the Norse god Loki, who was famous for wielding a sword. The specific name rangiformis refers to the asymmetrical length of the antlers, similar to those of caribou and reindeer.

The research team’s analysis shows that centrosaurs, a family of horned dinosaurs, experienced fast evolution and they inhabited relatively small geographic areas on the mainland territory of Laramidia Island.

The research was funded by the Museum of Evolution, the University of Utah and the National Science Foundation. Locyceratops was first discovered and excavated by Mark Eatman in the spring of 2019 and is now It is on display at the Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark. In addition, high-quality copies are available from the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada and the Natural History Museum of Utah, USA.