Newly-discovered dino was ancient cousin of Stegosaurus

An artist's reconstruction of how Yuxisaurus kopchicki might have looked

A new dinosaur species from the early Jurassic period has been discovered in southwestern China, according to an article published in the journal eLife.

Scientists originally found the partial skeleton of an armoured dinosaur in 2017 in the Yuxi region of Yunnan province.

This area is known for having seen a great number of dinosaur discoveries.

They called the new species Yuxisaurus kopchicki.

Shundong Bi, professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania said that research on the skeleton began in 2019.

The team think it is likely the dinosaur lived 192 million to 174 million years ago .Yuxisaurus kopchicki is likely to have measured 2 to 3 metres in length and ate low-growing plants like ferns.

It's thought that the ancient creature belongs to the thyreophoran group, the same as its distant cousin the Stegosaurus.

It is thought to be the first armoured dinosaur to be discovered on the entire Asian continent which experts say helps to show how the group spread around the world.