Two new dinosaur species are discovered

Chicago -- U.S.-led fossil hunters have discovered two new species of dinosaurs, both about 110 million-years-old, unearthed in the Sahara Desert.

The new species, named Kryptops and Eocarcharia, lived during the Cretaceous Period and were discovered during an expedition led by University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno.

Sereno and co-author paleontologist Stephen Brusatte of the University of Bristol said the new fossils provide a glimpse of an earlier stage in the evolution of dinosaurs in Gondwana, the southern landmass.

Short-snouted Kryptops palaios, which grew to about 25 feet in length, was so named for the horny covering that appears to have covered nearly all of its face. "A fast, two-legged hyena, gnawing and pulling apart a carcass is how we might best imagine Kryptops," said Brusatte.

A similar-sized contemporary, Eocarcharia dinops, was so named for its blade-shaped teeth and prominent bony eyebrow. Unlike Kryptops, its teeth were designed for disabling live prey and severing body parts, the scientists said.

The discoveries are detailed in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.