New dinosaur species identified in Saskatchewan

A 66-million-year-old partial skeleton discovered in Saskatchewan has been confirmed as a new species of plant-eating dinosaur.

The new species has been named Thescelosaurus assiniboiensis (THES'-kel-oh-SAWR'-us ah-SIN'-ni-boy-EN'-sis) after Saskatchewan's Assiniboia district where it was found.

The specimen was collected from the Frenchman River Valley near Eastend in 1968, but was only identified in recent years.



Caleb Brown, who was part of the team to study the bones, says the new dinosaur is notable for its small size compared to other contemporary herbivores — it was similar in size to a white-tailed deer.

The partial skeleton can be seen at the T.rex Discovery Centre in Eastend and an exact cast is on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina.

The new dinosaur species is described in the December edition of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

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