Chinese paleontologists in the Shandong province in China named a new dinosaur species based on its unique hip bone shape. An incomplete skeleton of the Ischioceratops zhuchengensis was unearthed at the Zhucheng fossil field, the biggest one in the world.
The new dinosaur species belonged to the genus leptoceratops. These small herbivores walked using their four legs but experts said they could also walk or stand using only the hind legs. Experts believed the Ischioceratops zhuchengensis probably lived during the final dinosaur era, the Cretaceous Period.
The new dinosaur species has a bow-shaped hip bone. In particular, the dinosaur's ischium (lower and back part of the hipbone) has a re-curve bow shape. The ischium's most distant end features an axe-shaped expansion. Moreover, the ischium's middle part has an obturator process, an elevated part.
The discovery was published in the journal PLOS ONE on Dec. 23, 2015.
Zucheng "Dinosaur" City
Locally, Zhuceng is known as China's Dinosaur City. In the 1960s, a team was scouting the area for oil but discovered, instead, a gold mine of dinosaur fossils.
In late December 2008, a group of scientists claimed they have unearthed the world's richest collection of dinosaur fossils in Zhucheng City, China. Paleontologist Zhao Xijin, who led the months-long dig, found over 7,600 fossils from the 980-feet long quarry near Zhucheng City.
The collection included a 65-feet long hadrosaurus fossil, which experts claimed to be a record-breaking size for the species. Zhao's team also discovered the first ceratopsian skull outside North America. Zhao said most of the dinosaur fossils they unearthed lived in the Cretaceous period.
Compared to other countries, China is a newcomer when it comes to dinosaur exploration. But in recent years, the country has increased its explorations and has been unearthing major and rare dinosaur finds. Unfortunately, some are smuggled out of the country for higher profits.
In 2010, Chinese scientist Wang Haijun raised the answer to what killed the dinosaurs might be hidden in the 980-foot-loong ravine in Zhucheng. It seemed a large congregation of the ancient animals huddled in the area before going extinct.
"This find is very important for understanding the very end of the age of dinosaurs," said paleontologist James M. Clark from the George Washington University who analyzed some of the fossils discovered at the Zhucheng site.
The unearthed fossils in Zhucheng were mangled, fractured and blackened, majority of which lived in the last dinosaur era, support the long-standing catastrophe theories.
