The new species had a long, short and longer tail and an enormous femur and long neck, but the most striking feature was its long neck and neck cap, researchers say
A new dinosaur species has been discovered with a long neck and neck cap, fossils from a quarry in central Israel show.
The new species, Psittacosaurus huanzu, had a long, short and longer tail and an enormous femur and long neck, according to paleontologists from Israel’s Museum of Natural History and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who made the find in December last year.
The new species would have been about the size of a large dog, although the researchers suggested it could have weighed up to 140kg (330lb).
Troy Hren, a graduate student at Hebrew University’s department of dinosaurs, described the new dinosaur as a “roly-poly runner”, which would have had a long, shaggy tail that ended at the head. It possessed a long, curved neck that extended between the eyes and ruled out any squabbles among its colleagues.
Hren examined 110 bones from 17 specimens.
The fossils lie in the cave at Gara’alat, in the southern Judean Desert, about 25 miles (40km) from the Dead Sea.
There have been only three other confirmed species of Psittacosaurus that have been discovered in the past 15 years. The other two animals lived in the Soviet Union during the 1920s and 1930s. They were discovered in the Gara’alat cave in 2008.
In its era Psittacosaurus would have been hunted by huge raptors, according to researchers.
The new dinosaur has been named Psittacosaurus huanzu, which means wild dogs of the Judean plateau.