New dinosaur genus found in China

Chinese scientists have discovered a new genus of dinosaur. It's 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 dinosaurs 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. Dong Zhiming, a researcher from the CAS' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology said that this dinosaur was related to the Coelophysis, a small, meat-eating dinosaur, which lived in the North American continent in the late Triassic period. He also added that this dinosaur was at least 120 cm long and 70 cm high, with a long tail and sharp teeth. 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. For more information related to dinosaur fossils, visit dinosaurs