Scientists have discovered a new dinosaur genus -- a meat-eating theropod -- in southwest China's Yunnan province, an expert from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said Saturday.

The fossils of the dinosaur were unearthed at Longshan, Lufeng county in the Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Chuxiong, in early September, said Dong Zhiming, a researcher from the CAS's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.

The new dinosaur was estimated to have lived on earth about 180 million years ago, or during the early Jurassic Period, and was related to the Coelophysis, Dong said.

"The dinosaur is at least 120 cm long and 70 cm high, and it has a long tail and sharp teeth," he added.

Coelophysises were small, meat-eating dinosaurs, which lived in the North American continent in the late Triassic period.

"The discovery of the new dinosaur might promote research on the classification and evolution of dinosaurs in China", Dong said.

The new dinosaur genus will be named after more detailed research is completed.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2010)