An unearthed dinosaur could be a 'missing link'

Palaeontologists have unearthed a never-before-seen raptor-like dinosaur that lived during a period of extreme climate change around 100 million years ago

- HARRY BAKER

Researchers think the newfound species could be an evolutionary ‘missing link’ between two key dinosaur groups. The newly described species, Iani smithi, belongs to the clade Ornithopoda – an extinct group of non-avian, mostly bipedal dinosaurs with several birdlike features. It’s unclear how large this species was, but it likely grew to around three metres long. One of the standout features of I. smithi is its powerful jaw, which hints that the species exclusively ate plants.

Researchers unearthed a partial skeleton of a suspected