New African dinosaur is like cross between bird, vampire, and porcupine

University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno, who published the findings on Wednesday in the online scientific journal ZooKeys, said in an interview with Reuters he actually made the discovery of the small-bodied herbivore in 1983.

By Edith Honan,?Reuters / October 4, 2012

This is a Heterodontosaurus flesh model and skull. Skin, scales and quills are added to a cast of the skull of Heterodontosaurus, the best known heterodontosaurid from South Africa.

Photo and sculpting by Tyler Keillor.

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A new?dinosaur?the size of a house cat and described as a cross between "a bird, a vampire and a porcupine" has been identified in a piece of rock from?South Africa.

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University of Chicago?paleontologist?Paul Sereno, who published the findings on Wednesday in the online scientific journal ZooKeys, said in an interview with Reuters he actually made the discovery of the small-bodied herbivore in 1983.

Sereno, whose research involves mapping the?dinosaur?family tree, said he came upon the specimen as a graduate student while doing research in a?Harvard University?laboratory and intended to write about it immediately.

"I said, 'Whoa!' I realized it was a new species from the moment I set eyes on it,"?Sereno?said. But he says he grew distracted by other things, and had in mind a more ambitious research project.

"There was always a danger that someone would discover it and write about it, and I would read about it," he said, but added it was all for the best: "Hey, I'm smarter than I was then."

The strange-looking species, which?Sereno?has named Pegomastax africanus, or "thick jaw from?Africa," lived between 100 million and 200 million years ago.

"I describe it as a bird, a vampire and a porcupine,"?Sereno?said. It had the weight of a small house cat and stood less than a foot (30 cm) off of the ground.

It had a thick jaw and a blunt beak with a "heightened tooth that sticks down, dagger-like,"Sereno?said. He said it would have been part of one of three groups that form the base of thedinosaur?tree.

(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/eoi0tHH9GCU/New-African-dinosaur-is-like-cross-between-bird-vampire-and-porcupine

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