Beijing: Chinese scientists have
discovered a new dinosaur genus -- a meat-eating theropod --
estimated to have lived in Southwest China's Yunnan province
about 180 million years ago or during the early Jurassic
Period.
The fossils of the dinosaur were unearthed in
Longshan, Lufeng county in the Yi Autonomous Prefecture of
Chuxiong in early September, an expert from the Chinese
Academy of Sciences (CAS) was quoted as saying by Xinhua new
agency.
The new dinosaur was related to the Coelophysis, a
small, meat-eating dinosaur, which lived in the North American
continent in the late Triassic period, said Dong Zhiming, a
researcher from the CAS' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology
and Paleoanthropology.
"The dinosaur is at least 120 cm long and 70 cm high,
and it has a long tail and sharp teeth," he added.
The discovery of the new dinosaur might promote research
on the classification and evolution of dinosaurs in China,
Dong said.
The new dinosaur genus will be named after more detailed
research is completed.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, October 13, 2010, 09:52