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A 'NEW' species of dinosaur thought to have lived over 130 million years ago has been discovered in a remote rural area of the province of Castellón on Spain's east coast.
Researchers from Valencia University (UV), the 'Guix Group' in Vila-real (Castellón province) and Castellón city's Jaume I University (UJI) have published details of their findings in the prestigious US-based science magazine Plos One – and, in layman's terms, what they have discovered is a giant lizard, which would have grown to between six and eight metres (19'6” to 26 feet) when it reached adulthood.
They were able to tell all this from fossilised teeth.
The creature is thought to have been even older than two other species discovered in the Mas de Curolles II archaeological dig in Portell, in the north-western district of Els Ports, in recent years.
These were named after local areas where they were identified – the Morelladon (from Morella) and the Vallivonavenatrix (from Vallibona) – and are believed to be more recent than the newly-baptised Portellsaurus by tens of millions of years.
According to the team, the first two would have roamed the area about 126 to 127 million years ago, but the Portellsaurus Sosbaynati probably lived there 130 million years back.
The 'new' dinosaur's suffix, or 'surname', is a tribute to Castellón-born geologist Dr Vicente Sos Baynat, the first scientist ever to receive an honorary PhD from the Jaume I University.
Describing the massive reptile, historians say it would have been 'medium to large' with 'dilated nostrils' and horn-like claws on its thumbs.
Yet, despite this terrifying-sounding appearance, it would have been harmless to humans if the two species had lived at the same time, since it was a herbivore – its diet consisted entirely of plants.
And its identification means the Comunidad Valenciana is now the third region in Spain in numbers of dinosaur species not previously documented, with a total of four, catching up with Catalunya's five – although the land-locked north-eastern region of Aragón is, arguably, dinosaur capital of the country, with 10 species discovered this century and towards the end of the last.
The research team behind the new finding has been working in the area since 2016 – an area only unearthed 'by chance' just over 20 years ago, according to Jaume I University's Dr Andrés Santos-Cubedo.
He says the dental fossil is now on display in the local history museum in Cinctorres.
Researcher for the Guix Group, Begoña Poza, says the Portellsaurus Sosbaynati is a very close relative of the Chinese Bolong dinosaur and the African Ouranosaurus, which lived in what is now Niger.
“In Portell – in fact, in the whole of Els Ports – there's an enormous amount of natural heritage already discovered and waiting to be discovered,” she says.
“To date, we've 'rescued' over 250 dinosaur fossils.”
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