Late-model dinosaurs were freakishly horned, spikey

Two newly discovered dinosaurs unearthed in Montana and Utah illustrate the exotic appearance some of these giant reptiles developed, with fanciful horns and spikes, toward the end of their reign on Earth.

Scientists on Wednesday announced the discovery of fossils of two species that provide new insights into an important group of truck-sized, four-legged, plant-munching, horned dinosaurs that roamed the landscape late in the Cretaceous Period.

Both dinosaurs were members of a group called ceratopsians that included the well-known Triceratops, typically possessing parrot-like beaks to crop low-growing herbs and shrubs, a bony neck shield and pointy facial horns.

Fossils of Machairoceratops cronusi, which lived 77 million years ago, were found in Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Machairoceratops, up to 26 feet long, had two large, forward-curving spikes coming out of the back of its shield, Ohio University paleontologist Eric Lund said. Machairoceratops also had two horns over its eyes and probably one over its nose.

Fossils of Spiclypeus shipporum, which lived 76 million years ago, were discovered near the town of Winifred in north-central Montana.

Spiclypeus, about 15 feet long, boasted brow horns sticking out sideways rather than pointing forward, paleontologist Jordan Mallon of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa said.

'I think Spiclypeus wins top prize for being the most aesthetically pleasing horned dinosaur, but that's my bias talking.”