Pinocchio Rex is the nickname of a newly-discovered form of dinosaur, a member of the Tyrannosaur family. True to its name, this animal had an extremely long snout.
This species was one of the last of the dinosaurs, flourishing 66 million years ago, not long before the giant animals were largely wiped from the Earth.
A cousin of the well-known Tyrannosaurus rex, this species was native to Asia. They were voracious carnivores, who used the lengthy proboscis in hunting prey. Within the long snout, Qianzhousaurus sinensis held rows of long, thin teeth.
Remains of the animals were discovered in southern china, by workers at a construction site, who brought the fossils to a local museum. The remains were soon identified by paleontologists from Edinburgh University in the United Kingdom.
The dinosaur died just before reaching adulthood. The fossil was well preserved through the ages, and a nearly complete skull was recovered.
The species lived alongside Tyrannosaurs, but likely did not compete with them for prey, given the difference in size between the animals.
"This is a different breed of tyrannosaur. It has the familiar toothy grin of T. rex, but its snout was much longer and it had a row of horns on its nose. It might have looked a little comical, but it would have been as deadly as any other tyrannosaur, and maybe even a little faster and stealthier," Steve Brusatte, from the University of Edinburgh and co-author of the study, said.
Two skeletons of dinosaurs with elongated snouts were found before this specimen. However, paleontologists were unable to determine if those fossils represented a new species or just an immature form of a previously-known dinosaur. Both remains were of young animals, which made analysis of the earlier finds challenging.
"It is an awesome specimen, almost a complete skeleton. It is a really one in a million find that those workers made," Brusatte told the press.
The species may have sported feathers, much like other dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous period. Bird-like adaptations may have allowed some of the animals to escape the extinction which occurred 65 million years ago, when the Earth was hit by a large asteroid.
With the discovery of Q. sinensis, paleontologists now believe a sub-class of dinosaurs may have developed the unusual adaptation. As excavations continue in southern China, researchers believe additional species of long-nosed dinosaurs may be found.
Study of the newly-discovered species of dinosaur was funded by the National Science foundation of the United States, as well as its counterpart in China.
Analysis of Pinocchio rex was detailed in the journal Nature Communications.
