New dinosaur species discovered in China

A new species of dinosaur with scythe-like claws and bad family connections has been discovered in China.

British student scientist Mich-ael Pittman and an American colleague stumbled on the near-complete fossil skeleton of Linheraptor exquisitus during a field trip to Inner Mongolia.

The eight-foot long creature is related to Velociraptor, one of the terrifying stars of the movie Jurassic Park.

Like its famous cousin, Linheraptor had a large curved toe claw on each foot which may have been used to dispatch prey.

The 25-kilo dinosaur, which lived 75 million years ago, would have been agile and swift on its feet.

PhD student Mr Pittman, from University College London, and Jonah Choiniere from George Washington University came across the animal's fossil bones sticking out of a cliff face.

The pair were visiting the Wulansuhai Formation, a site of red sandstone rocks in Inner Mongolia where a number of other dinosaur finds have been made.

Recalling the discovery, Mr Pittman said: "Jonah saw a claw protruding from the cliff face. He carefully removed it and handed it to me. We went through its features silently but he wanted my identification first.

"I told him it was from a carnivorous dinosaur and when he agreed I'm surprised nobody in London heard us shouting.

"I've always wanted to discover a dinosaur since I was a kid, and I've never given up on the idea. It was amazing that my first discovery was from a Velociraptor relative. My thesis is on the evolution and biomechanics of dinosaur tails but the carnivorous dinosaurs are my favourite and my speciality."

Mr Choiniere said: "It was a total surprise that the whole skeleton was buried deeper in the rock. This fossil is going to tell us a lot about the evolution of the skeleton in the group that includes Velociraptor."

Both Linheraptor and Velociraptor are dromaeosaurids, an extended family of meat-eating bird-like dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period.

Linheraptor is the fifth dromaeosaurid to be unearthed from the Wulansuhai Formation.

It is most closely related to the species Tsaagan mangas discovered in Mongolia in 1993.

The find is described in the journal Zootaxa.

Prof. Xu Xing, from the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing, China, who heads an investigation into the region's dinosaur history, said: "This is a really beautiful fossil and it documents a transitional stage in dromaeosaurid evolution."