Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Pa. researchers' find leads to new dinosaur

HARRISBURG (AP) — A new dinosaur may sound like a contradiction in terms, but that's just what's been identified by alert researchers at the State Museum of Pennsylvania.
The State Historical and Museum Commission said Tuesday that museum experts in 2004 realized the specimen from the late Triassic period was something new, and confirmation findings were published last month in "Proceedings of the Royal Society B," a scholarly journal.
The dinosaur's remains had been in a large mudstone block from New Mexico with other fossils, on loan from Carnegie Museum of Natural History for the State Museum's "dino lab" exhibit that lets visitors watch a technician uncover prehistoric remains.
The Carnegie museum removed the specimen, which was forwarded to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
Fossil preparer Kevin Dermody, a museum volunteer, found the skull of what is now being called Daemonosaurus chauliodus.
Its first name is derived from Greek words "daimon," or evil spirit, and "sauros," lizard or reptile. Chauliodous, or buck-toothed, refers to its front teeth.

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