Spiclypeus shipporum is a ceratopsian from the Chasmosaurine family. It would have been a stocky quadruped with a large head and beaked mouth. It had three horns (two over the eyes facing sideways, and a shorter one over the nose), and a large frill at the back of the head. Spikes on the frill both stick straight out and curl forward.
Spiclypeus would have lived in the Late Cretaceous floodplains of what is now central Montana, USA. Early ceratopsians (the horn-faced dinosaurs) are known for having frill spikes that stick straight out, and more advanced members have frill horns that curl inwards. Since Spiclypeus has both, it is a middle species between the earlier and more advanced ceratopsians.
The holotype consists of a partial skull, and some of the rest of the skeleton, which was badly damaged. It was discovered in 2005 by Bill Shipp on his ranch near Winifred, Montana, who named it 'Judith' for the nearby Judith River. He continued to excavate the specimen for the next ten years, and then sold it to the Canadian Museum of Nature in 2015. While being described in 2016, evidence was found of a chronic infection on its front leg, possibly from tuberculosis or a fungal infection.
Spiclypeus is a Latin portmanteau of the Latin words "spica" and "clypeus" "spike" and "shield", referring to the spikes around the outside of the frill. "Shipporum" refers to Bill Shipp and his family, the discoverer and original owner of the holotype's specimen.
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