Paleontologists have named a newly unearthed dinosaur after the Norse god Loki due to a striking similarity between its horns and the deity's regal headpiece, as it was depicted in recent superhero films and television shows.
However, L. rangiformis, which was likely around 22 feet long and weighed 5.5 tons ,"pushes the envelope on bizarre ceratopsian headgear" to extremes never seen before, study co-lead author Joseph Sertich, a paleontologist at Colorado State University, said in a statement. The dinosaur's skull also notably lacks a nose horn, a feature most other ceratopsians possess, including Triceratops.
L. rangiformis lived around 78 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, about 12 million years before Triceratops emerged. Back then, what is now North America was a large island continent, known as Laramidia. The newly identified species likely dwelled in swamps and floodplains along this ancient land's east coast.