| Lokiceratops Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
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| An artist's reconstruction (Fabrizio Lavezzi) of Lokiceratops rangiformis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | †Cerapoda |
| Infraorder: | †Ceratopsia |
| Family: | †Ceratopsidae |
| Subfamily: | †Centrosaurinae |
| Genus: | †Lokiceratops Loewen, 2024 |
| Type species | |
| Lokiceratops rangiformis Lambe, 1913 | |
Lokiceratops is an extinct genus of ceratopsian dinosaur from late Cretaceous Montana, USA. The type and only species is known as Lokiceratops rangiformis.
Discovery and Naming[]
Lokiceratops was discovered in 2019 in the Judith River Formation in the state of Montana in the United States and dated to 78 million years ago in the Campanian stage. The specimen was partially deformed from the compression process of fossilization, but provided an assortment of the skeleton including most of the skull, cervical, dorsal, and caudal vertebrae, fragments of the pelvis, and shoulders. In 2024, a team of researchers published the description of Lokiceratops as a new genus.
The generic name comes from the roots "Loki", referencing the head ornamentation looking very similar to popular depictions of the Norse god, and "ceratops" meaning "horned face". The specific name "rangiformis" references the genus Rangifer for the common caribou, which can have similar asymmetrical horns as the dinosaur.
Classification[]
Lokiceratops is classified as a centrosaurine due to it's similatriy to the group.