New dog-sized dinosaur unearthed in Venezuela

New dog-sized dinosaur unearthed in Venezuela

August 06, 2014

The researchers say that L. venezuelae walked on its hind legs and was comparable in size to a small dog.

According to a statement released by the Natural History Museum in London, an international team of paleontologists identified a cluster of dinosaur fossils discovered in Venezuela as a new species.

Laquintasaura venezuelae is named after the La Quinta Formation of rocks in the Andes Mountains, in which the researchers found the 201-million-year-old fossils. Previously, scientists assumed that the region was uninhabited by dinosaurs, as it was surrounded by large deserts.

The researchers say that L. venezuelae walked on its hind legs and was comparable in size to a small dog. Believed to have been largely herbivorous, the dinosaur may have also eaten insects or other small prey.

The fossil find included bones from at least four L. venezuelae, with singletons ranging in age from three to approximately 12 years old. This cluster is the earliest evidence of social behavior among bird-hipped dinosaurs.

“It’s always exciting to discover a new dinosaur species but there are many surprising firsts with Laquintasaura,” said Dr. Paul Barrett, an expert from the Natural History Museum in London. “It is fascinating and unexpected to see they lived in herds, something we have little evidence of so far in dinosaurs from this time.”

According to his Natural History Museum profile, Dr. Barrett had brief aspirations of being a vet but decided that living animals smell and bite too much. Now he studies dinosaurs, enjoying the detective work that goes into studying animals he couldn’t possibly see alive today.

By means of measuring the residual radioactivity of tiny crystals in the rock surrounding the new find, the fossils’ age was accurately measured as 201 million years old. This makes L. venezuelae a rare early member of the bird-hipped group.