Mexico museum unveils new local dinosaur species

Mexico's acclaimed Desert Museum has unveiled its newest attraction, the remains of a new species of dinosaur that is native to the country's northern desert region.

The Yehuecauhceretops is the newest species of dinosaurs to be found in the country, with the Desert Museum having uncovered four other new dinosaurs in the past.

The newest dinosaur species is of the genus of the horned centrosaurine ceretopsid dinosaur and was found in the Ocampo region of Coahuila state in 2007.

Work is still ongoing on the remains of the Yehuecauhceretops but the museum's head of palaeontology, Hector Rivera, told Reuters the intact remains of the dinosaur's cranium are a world first.

"There is no other example of this cranium with these particular characteristics anywhere in the world. This is one of a kind in the world," he said.

The Yehuecauhceretops, which translated to "ancient horned face", is a relatively small dinosaur at only 3.2 feet in length.

A herbivore, it roamed the now desert areas of Coahuila some 70 million years ago when the region was once a coastal marsh and floodplain.

Other unique dinosaur fossils that have been found in Mexico including flying reptile Peterosaur and the Albertosaurus.

Palaeontologist Rivera believes there are still many more local dinosaurs yet to be uncovered in Coahuila.

%shareLinks-quote="We have only named a small number of dinosaurs in Mexico, so we discovered one more of this type of dinosaur (in Mexico) and we know that there are not just dinosaurs in North America that are here, but there are dinosaurs that are Mexican and we will discover them." type="quote" author="Hector Rivera" authordesc="Paleontologist " isquoteoftheday="false"%

A replica of the Yehuecauhceretops is on show at Coahuila's Desert Museum, which features Latin America's most important collection of dinosaur remains. Amongst them is the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Mexico's Coahuila desert area is a prime stamping ground for palaeontologists in search of dinosaurs. Due to the region's diverse climatic factors such as erosion the discovery of fossils and other dinosaur remains is commonplace in the area.