Virginia Tech Undergraduate Identifies New Carnivorous Dinosaur Species From Crushed 200 Million Year Old Fossil

Virginia Tech student Simba Srivastava reconstructs a 200-million-year-old skull, discovering a new species that rewrites the end-Triassic extinction.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 15, 2026, 10:35 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from Virginia Tech

A Rare Discovery Inside a Damaged Specimen

What was once dismissed as a "uniquely sucky" and badly damaged fossil has become a pivotal piece of the dinosaur origin story. Simba Srivastava, a geosciences senior at Virginia Tech, spent two years digitally reconstructing a mangled skull that had been sitting in museum storage for over 30 years. His analysis, published in Papers in Palaeontology, reveals a new species of early carnivorous dinosaur that lived more than three times earlier than the Tyrannosaurus rex. The fossil represents a critical link in understanding how dinosaurs transitioned from minority competitors to the dominant land animals of the Jurassic period.

Digital Reconstruction of the Folded Hunter

The fossil was originally found at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, in 1982 but remained largely unstudied due to its poor condition. Using computed tomography (CT) scanning, Srivastava was able to digitally isolate the crushed bone fragments and create a 3D-printed model of the skull. The new species, named Ptychotherates bucculentus—meaning "folded hunter with full cheeks"—exhibits unique anatomical features including large cheekbones and a broad braincase. These traits suggest that early dinosaurs were evolving far more complex skull shapes than paleontologists previously realized.

The Final Refuge of the Herrerasauria

The team determined that Ptychotherates belongs to the Herrerasauria, one of the most ancient groups of carnivorous dinosaurs. Significantly, this specimen appears to be one of the last surviving members of its lineage. Before this discovery, it was largely assumed that dinosaurs were the primary beneficiaries of the end-Triassic mass extinction, which eliminated their crocodilian-like competitors. However, the presence of Ptychotherates in rock layers just before the extinction event suggests that the cataclysm also claimed long-standing dinosaur lineages, with the American Southwest acting as their final refuge.