Palaeontologists are referring to Chilesaurus diegosuarezi (illustrated) as a 'platypus' dinosaur because of its bizarre combination of features A new lineage of dinosaur that grazed on plants, despite being closely related to notorious carnivore Tyrannosaurus rex, has been discovered in Chile. Palaeontologists are referring to Chilesaurus diegosuarezi as a 'platypus' dinosaur because of its bizarre combination of characteristics, including its small skull and feet. These features are more like those seen on long-neck dinosaurs. The animal is proving to be an evolutionary jigsaw puzzle because it belongs to the theropod group of dinosaurs - which includes the famous meat eaters Velociraptor, Carnotaurus and Tyrannosaurus, from which birds today evolved - but was a vegetarian.Chilesaurus diegosuarezi was discovered by a child in southern ChileLate Jurassic dinosaur was a herbivore, causing experts to rethink the idea that vegetarian theropods were close relatives of birdsFossils reveal unusual features from various dinosaur groups, including short arms, a long neck, small head and leaf-shaped teethDinosaur has been liked to a platypus because of its mixture of traits
He said: ‘Chilesaurus is the first complete dinosaur from the _ found in Chile and represents one of the most complete and anatomically correct documented theropod dinosaurs from the southern hemisphere.