Oct 3 : Palaeontologists claim to have discovered a new species of dinosaur fossil in Montana, the US, which they say, provides the long sought missing link between a primitive group of Asian and North American dinosaurs.

The newfound species, dubbed Cerasinops, is a very early form of Ceratops, whose descendants are best known for their fearsome horns and flashy neck frills.

The fossil, discovered 24 years ago by palaeontologist Jack Horner near the town of Choteau in 1983, however, had no horns, and it walked on two legs instead of four.

Moreover, the dinosaur had extra teeth in its beaklike mouth that had never before been seen in an American specimen.

Brenda Chinnery-Allgeier, a University of Texas palaeontologist who identified the new species, said the fossilized female could be the missing link between two dinosaur groups that lived half a world apart some 80 million years ago.

“Cerasinops is exciting because of the traits that she has – some are known only in Asian groups, and others are known only from North American groups,” Chinnery-Allgeier said.

She said while the newfound species had the teeth of an Asian Ceratops, it had chewing mechanisms that were unique to American dinosaurs.

“The new dinosaur shows a direct link between Asian and North American horned dinosaurs that has been looked for a long time,” Chinnery-Allgeier said.

“We knew that [the two groups] were related, but we didn’t have any fossils that showed a mixture of characteristics like this and thus [demonstrated] the split between the Asian group and the North American group,” National Geographic quoted her as saying.

Weighing some 40 pounds (18 kilograms) and standing three feet (one metre) tall, Cerasinops was about the size of a large turkey. (ANI)