New dog-sized dinosaur species identified in Australia

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A new dog-sized, two-legged, plant-eating dinosaur species has been identified through the discovery of a jawbone fragment found in a bucket of opal mineral rubble near an Australian mining town.

Weewarrasaurus pobeni dates back about 100 million years and was a dinosaur about the size of a kelpie sheepdog.

The dinosaur was about the size of a kelpie sheepdog. /VCG Photo

The name honors the Wee Warra opal field near Lightning Ridge where the fossil was found.

According to ABC news channel, the species is the first dinosaur to be named in Australia's New South Wales state in almost a century.

"There are certain features about the teeth that are a dead ringer for a group of dinosaurs we call ornithopods, and these are all characteristically relatively small, dog-sized, bipedal animals that eat plants," The University of New England paleontologist Dr. Phil Bell told the channel.

Dinosaurs are very popular with the public. /VCG Photo

Dr. Bell and his team spent the past few years investigating the origins of the fossil fragment before determining that it belonged to the species believed to have roamed the state's ancient northern floodplains.

The jaw fragment has been added to the Australian Opal Center collection which is the world's most diverse public collection of opalized fossils.

(with input from Xinhua)