Story highlights Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur, called "Timurlengia euotica"

The dinosaur is a distant relative of the T. rex and offers clues to its evolution

(CNN) Scientists have discovered a new species of Tyrannosaur that helps explain how the T. rex turned into such a giant beast.

A team of experts from Edinburgh University, along with colleagues from Russia and the U.S., discovered fossilized remains in Uzbekistan and identified a new species called "Timurlengia euotica."

The Timurlengia was roughly the size of a horse. It was "a nimble pursuit hunter with slender, blade-like teeth, suitable for slicing meat," says Hans Sues, chair of the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

It had long legs, was a fast runner, and probably preyed on plant-eaters, but its speed wasn't the only thing the researchers were interested in -- when the creature's skull was reconstructed they discovered its brain and ears looked very familiar.

"Ancestors of the T. rex would have looked a whole lot like Timurlengia," says Steve Brusatte, team leader from the University of Edinburgh.