TULSA, Okla. — A Ph.D. student at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa is adding discovering a dinosaur to his resume.
Anatomy and vertebrate paleontology student Kyle Atkins-Weltman was studying foot and leg bone fossils from what was believed to be a young Anzu wyliei — described as a "chicken from hell" when it was discovered in 2014.
Atkins-Weltman learned the bones weren't from the previously discovered dinosaur but instead from an undiscovered species.
His tests determined the bones belonged to the dinosaur family caenagnathid.
The fossils were found in the Hell Creek Formation that spans parts of Montana, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota — giving the dinosaur its creative name.
For his discovery, Atkins-Weltman named the new dinosaur Eoneophron infernalis, which translates to Pharaoh’s dawn chicken from hell. The name honors the description of the Anzu as well as his late beloved pet, a Nile monitor lizard named Pharaoh, the university said.
Rough estimates find the new dinosaur weighed around 150 to 160 pounds and stood about three feet tall at the hip — about the size of a human.
“It was a very bird-like dinosaur. It had a toothless beak and relatively short tail. It’s hard to tell its diet because of the toothless beak,” he said. “It definitely had feathers. It was covered in feathers and had wings.”
Atkins-Weltman’s paper on the new species is published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, released by the Public Library of Science.
“Kyle is the first student researcher at OSU-CHS to reveal, describe and name a new dinosaur,” said Eric Snively, Ph.D. Atkins-Weltman’s faculty advisor.
Atkins-Weltman said he never intended to find a new species.
“They were about 25% smaller than other Anzu fossils. We figured it was a juvenile Anzu,” he said. “I assumed it was an Anzu until the evidence showed it wasn’t.”
When Atkins-Weltman started suspecting the bones weren't Anzu fossils, he reached out to experts on caenagnathids in Canada.
"Through paleohistology techniques, they were able to determine that the foot and leg bones were not structurally those of a juvenile, but of a more mature specimen, meaning a new dinosaur species in the caenagnathid family," a spokesperson for OSU-Tulsa said.
Atkins-Weltman said his project and published findings wouldn't have been possible without his co-authors and those who assisted him.
“It was really thrilling. Based on the work and research I do, I never thought I would be someone to discover a new dinosaur species,” he said.
Atkins-Weldman said he'll continue to conduct research at OSU-CHS as he pursues his doctoral degree.
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