Spiclypeus shipporum (shown here in an artist's illustration) would have plodded along a 76 million years ago in what is now the Judith River Formation of Montana.
Credit: copyright Mike Skrepnick
Livescience has yet another story about a new ceratopsian dinosaur. That's two on the same day. This one is called Spiclypeus shipporum, and lived around 76 million years ago in Montana. The scientific name comes from the latin words for "spiked shield" combined with the surname Shipp, after Bill Shipp, a retired physicist who discovered the bones more that a decade ago. The animal was nicknamed Judith, from the Judith River geological formation, in which it was discovered. All of the dinosaur's vitals appear on it's website at judiththedinosaur.com/. The animal is described in a paper which was published in PLOS ONE, on May 18th 2016.
"This is a spectacular new addition to the family of horned dinosaurs that roamed western North America between 85 and 66 million years ago," said study researcher Jordan Mallon of the Canadian Museum of Nature.
Analysis of Judith's bones revealed that she was at least 10 years old when she died. The upper bone of one of her front legs showed evidence of infection and arthritis in the joint.
Spiclypeus appears to have been unique to Montana, paleontologists reported, which suggests that dinosaurs were highly differentiated and localized in the Late Cretaceous period in western North America. Eight other dinosaur species have been found in the Judith River Formation, they said in a statement. None of those specimens have been found farther south than Canada.
Judith "provides new evidence of dinosaur diversity during the Late Cretaceous period from an area that is likely to yield even more discoveries," Mallon said in a statement.
