JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 11, 2009
New Dinosaur Species Found in South Africa
Scientists Say Find May Explain How Dinosaurs Evolved into Earth's Largest Land Animals
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Paleontologist Adam Yates , second left, displays fossilized bones of a new dinosaur species, Aardonyx Celestae, from the early Jurassic period (about 200 million years old) during an announcement of the discovery at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)
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Photo Essay Land Of The Found Images of some recent fossil finds, from man's ancestors to extinct dinosaurs.
Paleontologist Adam Yates from the University of the Witwatersrand presented an incomplete skeleton of the Aardonyx celestae at a news conference Wednesday.
The findings of Yates and his team have been published in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.
The species was a plant-eater dating back about 200 million years to the early Jurassic period. The dinosaur walked on its hind legs but could drop to all fours and stood nearly 6 feet high at the hip.
Yates believes it represents a missing evolutionary link between earlier dinosaurs and their descendants.
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