A new species of dinosaur that apparently preyed on other animals has been discovered in Venezuela. The finding could shed light on how species survived a horrific mass extinction some 200 million years ago.

To acknowledge history, the international team of paleontologists called the new dino Tachiraptor admirabilis. The generic name derives from Tachira, a state in Venezuela where the remains were unearthed and raptor, a Latin word for "thief," which describes the dinosaur's predatory habit.

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The second name honors the "Admirable Campaign" of the South American liberation hero, Simon Bolivar. The campaign played a strategic role that led to Venezuela's liberation from Spanish rule in 1813.

The Tachiraptor fossils were found in the northernmost part of the Andes Mountains at the western border of Venezuela.

As yet, the only bones discovered are two leg bones: shinbone and a partially fractured hip bone from two different individuals. Nevertheless, paleontologists were able to determine the dinosaur was about 1.5 meters long from nose to tail.

Its size and shape tag the creature as a meat-eating theropod. But the bones are different enough to indicate Tachiraptor as new species, confirmed vertebrate paleontologist Max Langer of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

Using radioactive dating, paleontologists estimated the age of the fossils at about 200 million years old. The results place the dinosaur in the Jurassic period, just after the massive extinction event had ended the early Triassic period. It also means this dinosaur could be a probable ancestor of bigger dinosaurs like T. rex.

"These survivors of the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction were the "ground zero" for the theropod evolution," said another vertebrate paleontologist, Thomas Holtz from the University of Maryland.

The find also proposes the idea that the equatorial belt of Pangaea may have contributed a big role in the theropod evolution. Previous research suggested the region was too inadequate for dinosaurs to live in during the Jurassic period.

More fossils from the region could help paleontologists flesh out the dinosaur family tree. Although this might be a tedious process, paleontologists are still planning to go back to Venezuela to search for more bones.

The finding was published October 8 in the journa,l Royal Society Open Science.

TagsNew Species of Dinosaur