Lokiceratops rangiformis

Dino Of The Month June 2024

Article: https://peerj.com/articles/17224/#

Abstract of abstract:

[snip] Here, we report a new centrosaurine ceratopsid, Lokiceratops rangiformis, from the lower portion of the McClelland Ferry Member of the Judith River Formation in the Kennedy Coulee region along the Canada-USA border. Dinosaurs from the same small geographic region, and from nearby, stratigraphically equivalent horizons of the lower Oldman Formation in Canada, reveal unprecedented ceratopsid richness, with four sympatric centrosaurine taxa and one chasmosaurine taxon. Phylogenetic results show that Lokiceratops, together with Albertaceratops and Medusaceratops, was part of a clade restricted to a small portion of northern Laramidia approximately 78 million years ago. This group, Albertaceratopsini, was one of multiple centrosaurine clades to undergo geographically restricted radiations, with Nasutuceratopsini restricted to the south and Centrosaurini and Pachyrostra restricted to the north.[snip] The high endemism seen in centrosaurines and other dinosaurs implies that dinosaur diversity is underestimated and contrasts with the large geographic ranges seen in most extant mammalian megafauna.[emphasis mine]

I don't often do actual ceratopsids, and this one is the first in the scope of the DOTM project if I'm not mistaken, but this Lokiceratops was way too cool to not include. Just look at that head (which is huge btw, about 2 meter long). As I only learned about its existence this past Thursday and therefore had three days to finish this, I had to cut some corners and I've taken the liberty to copy the pose and body proportions as well as the swamp environment from official artwork by Andrey Atuchin. I changed everything else though, from the shape of the horns (more symmetrical than the holotype) to the coloration (far more swampy and muddy than the original). Even flipped the canvas to make the resemblance less obvious.

And in case you wonder: Lokiceratops is not named after the Marvel character because of its horns, or even directly after the Norse deity, but after the holotype locality: the Loki Quarry in Hill County, Montana.

Digital palaeoart, Cintiq and CSP.