An article published in the journal “PLOS ONE” describes the analysis of the bones of a dinosaur that was called Spiclypeus shipporum. It’s a so-called horned dinosaur that belongs to the family of the ceratopsids (Ceratopsidae). The only specimen found lived about 76 million years ago in today’s Montana, USA.
Ceratopsids were herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by horns and bony neck structures with various frills. The most famous representatives of this family are of the genus Triceratops, with their huge collar and horns, but it’s a very large family. It was one of the few dinosaur families that greatly diversified in the Late Cretaceous, a period when other groups were already in decline.
Just before the great extinction, ceratopsids were one of the groups of dinosaurs that included the largest number of species and had spread to Asia and North America. The discovery of Spiclypeus shipporum is curious because the land in which it the only specimen was found was purchased in 2000 by Bill Shipp, a nuclear physicist. In 2005, Shipp found the first bones of this new species and slowly what was left of the skeleton was recovered.
According to estimates, the specimen of Spiclypeus shipporum found had a length between 4.5 and 6 meters (about 15 to 20 feet), weighing between three and four tons and had to be at least 10 years old. The estimates are quite approximate because of the only specimen they found half of the skull, part of its legs, hips and backbone.
In the bones found the researchers noted deformities in a humerus caused by arthritis and osteomyelitis, a bone infection. Probably its left front leg was unusable because of these ailments forcing the animal to walk on three legs and causing it perennial pain.
Spiclypeus shipporum is different from other ceratopsids for the orientation of the horns over the eyes, which protrude sideways. The “spikes” that come from the bony margin of the frills have a unique layout because some of them curl forward while others project outward.
This is the ninth species of dinosaur discovered in the geological formation of Montana called Judith River Formation. Some of these dinosaurs are unique of Montana while others were also found in Canada, in Alberta, but not in more southerly areas. It’s possible that they were localized species that never spread to particularly large areas.
The Canadian Museum of Nature is opening a public exhibition of Spiclypeus shipporum. They will show a reconstruction of the animal’s skull, the sick humerus and other bones. This is an opportunity to see what a horned dinosaur unknown until a few years ago looked like.
