Paleontologists at Mexico’s acclaimed Desert Museum have discovered the remains of a new species of dinosaur that inhabited the coast of northwest Coahuila state 85 million years ago, making it the oldest dinosaur to have inhabited the region.

The Acantholipan gonzalezi was found in the Ocampo region of Coahuila and is native to the country’s northern desert region.

After more than eight years of research, studies of the fossil evidence revealed that it is a new genus of nodosaurium. Due to its characteristics, it was a juvenile measuring 3.5 meters (11.4 feet) in length and weighed more than half a ton.

The name Acantholipan gonzalezi, comes from the Greek -acanthos-, which means spine, and Lipan, in honor of the brave Apache tribe that inhabited the region where the specimen was found.

Acantholipan differs from its closest relatives such as Nodosaurus and Niobrarasaurus, since the ulna (one of the bones of their forearms), has a much larger projection than in other nodosaurs, in addition to having conical spines in the pelvic region.

Other unique dinosaur fossils have been found in Mexico including flying reptile Pterosaur and the Albertosaurus. Paleontologists believe there are still many more local dinosaurs yet to be uncovered in Coahuila.

A replica of the Acantholipan gonzalezi will be shown at Coahuila’s Desert Museum, which features Latin America’s most important collection of dinosaur remains. Amongst them is the Tyrannosaurus Rex. — Reuters