Scientists in northeastern China's Jilin Province and their Belgian colleagues had recently named a new herbivorous dinosaur species "helioceratops", one of its discoverers told Xinhua Wednesday.

The cretaceous dinosaur lived in the area of Jilin 100 million years ago, said Jin Liyong, also the curator of Jilin University Museum.

He said, helioceratops belong to the basal neoceratopsian dinosaur family, which existed in northern China and southern Mongolia.

"They differ from other members mainly with its deep dentary ramus, steeply-inclined ventral predentary facet and its heterogeneous dentary crowns.

"The discovery will contribute greatly to the research of basal neoceratopsian dinosaurs," Jin said.

Fossils including the dinosaur's maxilla and dentary, were unearthed in Liufangzi Town of the province's Gongzhuling City in June, 2003.

Scientists, headed by Jin and aided by Pascal Godefroit from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, had spent years identifying these fossils until late June when their research results were published in the latest issue of Acta Geologica Sinica, a top geological journal in China.

"A helioceratop looks bigger than a pig but smaller than a cow," said Jin, adding that the unearthed fossils of the dinosaur will be exhibited at his museum in early September.

(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2009)