New Genus of Dinosaur Discovered
How cool is this?
Koreaceratops hwaseongensis, a new species of dinosaur estimated to have lived during the late Early Cretaceous period about 103 million years ago, has been discovered in South Korea.
The specimen was discovered in 2008 and is the first ceratopsian dinosaur discovered in the Korean peninsula. Ceratopsians are dinosaurs with horns and a rostral bone, a beak-like bone in the upper jaw. A well-known ceratopsian is the Triceratops.
Scientists from the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in the United States, and the Hokkaido University Museum in Japan analyzed the fossil and identified it was a new species. Because of its uniqueness, they also created a new genus for it.
The researchers said that the body structure of Koreaceratops, especially a fan-like tail, may facilitate swimming. Unique features of Koreaceratops include long spines on its tail vertebrae and an unusual heel bone, the researchers said in their paper.