LOKI-FACED CERATOPS

As a kid I was always a big fan of triceratops. But at that time we knew only of about half the ceratopsian species we know today. There was a boom of discoveries of ceratopsids between 1870 and 1925, then very little for almost a century. But over the last two decades there have been a bunch of new finds. 1996 saw the discovery of Zuniceratops, significant for being the earliest-known ceratopsian with brow horns and, it must be noted, discovered by an eight-year-old in New Mexico. 2006 saw Yinlong, the first known Jurassic ceratopsian, was described, pushing back the lineage's history. In 2010 Sinoceratops was named, representing the first ceratopsid discovered in China. In 2013 there was Nasutoceratops, based on recent fossils collected in Utah. And in 2019 folks found the remains of Lokiceratops, though that wasn't publicly described until now.

Paleontologist Mark Loewen just dropped a presentation on a never-before seen species of ceratopsian, discovered on the Alberta-Montana border. Around 78 million years ago, long before triceratops, Lokiceratops rangiformis lumbered across what is now the semi-arid grasslands of western North America but in its time, during the Cretaceous, was the swampy jungle of the island continent of Laramidia.

Along with its parrot-like beak and the large bony frill atop its head, like most other ceratopsians, the newly discovered dino has two large, paddle-like horns (something like squashed rams horns) on the edge of its frills and several asymmetrical spikes around the middle of the frill. Along the sides of its frill, there was additional nub-like ornamentation. It also lacked nose horns, which was common among its evolutionary relatives.

The name reflects those unique elements of the organism's physiology. Lokiceraptops means “Loki’s horned face,” making reference to the Norse god of mischief, and rangiformis means “formed like a caribou,” referencing the creature's asymmetrical frill paddles, which are similar to the mismatched antlers of a caribou or reindeer. Love it!

Below is the press conference at the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City: