OTTAWA -- A Canadian-led team of scientists has officially identified a previously unknown species of dinosaur, a decade after its bones were first discovered in the badlands of Montana.
Dr. Jordan Mallon at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa completed the scientific analysis that confirmed the species.
Mallon has christened it Spiclypeus shipporum and says the four-legged creature roamed the Earth about 76 million years ago.
He describes it as a horned dinosaur with prominent spikes on an elaborate shield over its head.
It's just one of a growing number of newly discovered ceratopsids, the family of dinosaurs that includes the Triceratops, which are generally characterized by horns on the face and elaborate head frills.
The new specimen, which includes half of a skull and parts of the dinosaur's legs, hips and backbone, is now housed in the museum's national fossil collection, home to some of the best examples of horned dinosaurs in the world.
