Fossilized Dinosaur

 The Smithsonian Institution recently announced the discovery of a fossilized dinosaur skull and neck vertebrae that reveal a new species and an evolutionary link between two groups of dinosaurs.
Daemonosaurus (genus) Chauliodus (species) is the formal name of the newly discovered dinosaur.

 The archeologists of Smithsonian Institution dug up the dinosaur’s skull and neck vertebrae in Abiquiu, New Mexico, where it had remained buried for around 230 million years.

The new species, Daemonosaurus chauliodus, helps bridge the gap between the dinosaurs that existed in areas now covered by Argentina and Brazil, and later theropod dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus rex, the scientists claimed in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, reports Herald Sun.

The dinosaur’s 14cm skull features large, forward-slanted teeth and large eye sockets. Scientists are unable to state the exact height because they have only found the skull and neck were found, but they do estimate it would have been the same size as a large dog.

“Various features of the skull and neck in Daemonosaurus indicate that it was intermediate between the earliest known predatory dinosaurs from South America and more advanced theropod dinosaurs,” said Hans Sues, of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

“One such feature is the presence of cavities on some of the neck vertebrae related to the structure of the respiratory system,” he added.

Scientists conclude this new discovery to suggest that there is still much to be learned about the early evolution of the per-historic creatures.