A new dinosaur species has been found in an Australian town

fostoria-dinosaurImage source, James Kuether

Imagine finding a brand new species of dinosaur by accident.

A new species of dinosaur has been found in an Australia, 30 years after a man had collected them thinking they were just animal fossils.

He didn't realise they were so special but now scientists have analysed them and found they are from a newly discovered type of dinosaur.

The species has been given the extremely catchy name of Fostoria dhimbangunmal. They got the first part of their name from the man who discovered the fossils in the first place - Bob Foster!

Image source, Jenni Brammall
Image caption,

Bob and his wife Jenny with their amazing find

Bob eventually took the fossils to a museum because he thought that there could be something interesting about them.

He was right! After many years of research it's believed that they belonged to a herd of plant eating dinosaurs.

The dinosaur stood on its back legs and is from a group of dinosaurs called Iguanodontian, this group also includes Dryosaurus and Iguanadon.

But these fossils are not your average dinosaur find.

What makes these dinosaur fossils slightly different is that they are opalised. This means that they have a shimmering crystal look to them because they are made of opal, a type of rock which is really colourful.

Image source, Robert A. Smith, courtesy Australian Opal Centre

It's pretty common to find opalised fossils in Australia but extremely rare to find a whole new dinosaur species which no one has ever discovered before.

The fossils included many different bones belonging to the same species so it's likely that they belonged to both adult dinosaurs and baby dinosaurs.

Bob Foster and his family donated the fossils to the Australian Opal Centre so that the incredible discovery can be shared with the world.