Dwarf species of fanged dinosaur emerges from southern Africa

A new species of plant-eating dinosaur with tiny, 1-inch-long jaws has come to light in South African rocks dating to the early dinosaur era, some 200 million years ago. This "punk-sized" herbivore is one of a menagerie of bizarre, tiny, fanged plant-eaters called heterodontosaurs, or "different toothed reptiles," which were among the first dinosaurs to spread across the planet. The single specimen of the new species was originally chipped out of red rock in southern Africa in the 1960s and discovered in a collection of fossils at Harvard University by Paul Sereno , paleontologist and professor at the University of Chicago and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. Details of the dinosaur's anatomy and lifestyle are part of a monograph by Sereno dedicated to these puny herbivores and published in the online journal ZooKeys . Named Pegomastax africanus, or " thick jaw from Africa," the new species had a short, parrot-shaped beak up front, a pair of stabbing canines and tall teeth tucked behind for slicing plants. The tall teeth in its upper and lower jaws operated like self-sharpening scissors, with shearing wear facets that slid past one another when the jaws closed. The parrot-shaped skull, less than 3 inches long, may have been adapted to plucking fruit.