New dinosaur species identified

CHICAGO, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- A Chicago paleontologist was honored in India Wednesday for identifying a new breed of dinosaur, a report said.

The Chicago Sun Times said Paul Sereno, a University of Chicago paleontologist, searched through hundreds of bones that sat in a government office in India for 25 years.

Now Sereno, 45, is credited with identifying another new species, called Rajasaurus.

The discovery of the dinosaur skeleton, which includes the first dinosaur skull ever assembled in India, is "extremely important," said Ashok Sahni, a professor of geology at Punjab University in India, who worked with Sereno on identifying the dinosaur.

Rajasaurus roamed the earth some 66 million years ago, before the Himalayas formed.

"It was a brute. It walked on two feet, with stocky limbs that appear stronger than those of a T. rex," Sereno said. It was 35 feet long, 9 feet high at its hip and weighed 4 tons -- making it slightly smaller than T. rex.