A group of researchers say that they uncovered a new species of dinosaur in Madagascar that existed 90 million years ago.
The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, outlines the discovery of the carnivorous dinosaur species known as Dahalokely tokana.
And the new research, led by Andrew Farke who is the Augustyn Family Curator of Paleontology at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, significantly shortens a 95-million-year gap of time when no dinosaur remain discoveries were recorded.
There have been no findings from 165 to 70 million years ago identified in Madagascar, but with the discovery of the Dahalokely the gap has been condensed by 20 million years.
The remains of the new species were unearthed in 2007 and 2010 in the city Antsiranana (Diego-Suarez)---a location in the northernmost region of Madagascar, according to a press release regarding the research project.
Researchers concluded that the remains were from a new species of dinosaur due to the existence of unique cavities on each side of the vertebrae that were observed---a characteristic that can not be attributed to any other known dinosaur species.
"We had always suspected that abelisauroids were in Madagascar 90 million years ago, because they were also found in younger rocks on the island. Dahalokely nicely confirms this hypothesis," Farke said.
"But, the fossils of Dahalokely are tantalizingly incomplete--there is so much more we want to know. Was Dahalokely closely related to later abelisauroids on Madagascar, or did it die out without descendants?"
And Joe Sertich, who also worked on the project and is curator of dinosaurs at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, says that this discovery signals the importance of further research in areas where dinosaur remains have yet to be uncovered.
"This dinosaur was closely related to other famous dinosaurs from the southern continents, like the horned Carnotaurus from Argentina and Majungasaurus, also from Madagascar," Sertich said.
"This just reinforces the importance of exploring new areas around the world where undiscovered dinosaur species are still waiting."
The research was funded by the Jurassic Foundation, Sigma Xi, National Science Foundation and the Raymond M. Alf Musuem of Paleontology.