Summary

Lokiceratops was a species of ceratopsid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in the northern regions of Laramidia. At this time, the genus Lokiceratops only includes the species L. rangiformis. The subfamily centrosaurinae, which includes L. rangiformis, is well known for other ceratopsians like Wendiceratops, Medusaceratops, and Diabloceratops. One of the defining factors of most species in the centrosaurinae subfamily is their uniquely shaped and and uniquely adorned frills. With its asymmetrical blade-like horns at the tip of its frill, it would appear that Lokiceratops is no exception.

Images of Medusacertops (left) and Diabloceratops (right) illustrated by the DeviantArt artist Olorotitan

Discovery

The holotype for Lokiceratops, given the accession number EMK 0012, was initially discovered in the badlands near Milk River and the town of Rudyard in Hill County, northern Montana by Mark Eaton in 2019. The fossil quarry that this specimen was recovered in is located near the sites of two other ceratopsian species. The Loki Quarry is 4.9 km northwest of Judiceratops tigris quarry and 2.6 km west of the Mansfield Bonebed where Medusaceratops lokii was recovered. After the fossils were excavated, the bones were shipped to the fossil preparators at Fossilogic in 2021. Skeletal remains uncovered of the Lokiceratops were found disarticulated, meaning they were separated from their original position which made reconstruction slightly more difficult. Once the fossils were prepared, casts were made so that researchers were able to create lifelike and lifesized reconstructions of the skull. After all of the preparation and casting and recasting, the holotype was finally ready for museum exhibition in 2022. The holotype of Lokiceratops now resides in Knuthenborg Safaripark in Denmark.

Paleoenvironment

As I publish more of these articles, the way that I lay out the paleoenvironment may change but for now this layout makes the most sense to me. I will also be including a link to the genus specific wikipedia for each listed creature if you want to learn more about a specific genus. This is not a comprehensive list of all of the species that were extant alongside Lokiceratops but hopefully this gives context for Lokiceratops in its environment. Lastly, as more articles are put out I will include a link to the article as well.