Scientists Discover Velociraptor's Cousin

The Velociraptor's family tree has a new branch.

Two graduate students discovered a new species of dinosaur in a Mongolian cliff that is a close relative of the agile predator made famous in the blockbuster film "Jurassic Park," according to a LiveScience report.

Like the Velociraptor, the new species - called Linheraptor exquisitus - was a member of the Dromaeosauridae family. At around 6 feet long and 50 pounds, it was likely speedy, agile and sported a curved claw on its foot that helped it hunt prey. It prowled the earth 75 million years ago.

Jonah Choiniere, a doctoral student at George Washington University, and Michael Pittman, a graduate student at University College London made the discovery during a 2008 expedition in the Gobi Desert, first spying a claw sticking out of a cliff face in the .

"It was a total surprise that the whole skeleton was buried deeper in the rock," Choiniere told LiveScience.

"Jonah saw a claw protruding from the cliff face. He carefully removed it and handed it to me," Pittman told the Web site. "I've always wanted to discover a dinosaur since I was a kid, and I've never given up on the idea. It was amazing that my first discovery was from a Velociraptor relative."

The researchers, in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, will publish their findings in the journal Zootaxa.
The Velociraptor's family tree has a new branch