Chinese paleontologists announced the discovery of a new species of troodontid dinosaur, Xinhua News Agency reported on November 2.

A species of troodontid dinosaur. Photo: AFP

According to the statement, the new dinosaur had a unique butterfly-shaped arch at its dorsal vertebra. This feature helps researchers distinguish the new species from other troodontid species.

Archaeologists informed, fossils were discovered in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China. It consists of an almost complete skull with a total length of 12cm and a body about 1m long.

Right side of skull. Photo: Institute of Paleontology and Vertebrate Paleontology

Pei Rui – a researcher from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleontology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences – said that this dinosaur lived in the last geological period of the Cretaceous period – about 70-years-old. 83 million years ago. This is a critical time for both individual development and population evolution.

Unique butterfly arch. Photo: Institute of Paleontology and Vertebrate Paleontology

This finding is considered to have extremely important implications for the study of the biodiversity of terrestrial organisms and habitat change in Northeast Asia during the late Cretaceous period.

The discovery was published in Cretaceous Research in October.

Source: laodong.vn