Skeletal reconstruction shows the preserved bones found by the scientists.

The new tyrannosauroid is relatively small (about 1.5 metres—5 feet—long) and rather primitive in many details of its skeleton. But its skull has the distinctively square-snouted profile of its much larger and more famous 70-to-65-million-year-old cousin, T. rex.

This research was supported in part by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration.

Read the news story about this discovery.

Read National Geographic News stories about other dinosaur discoveries.

See today's top stories from National Geographic News.