By Edith Honan NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new dinosaur the size of a
house cat and described as a cross between "a bird, a vampire
and a porcupine" has been identified in a piece of rock from
South Africa. University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno,
who published the findings on Wednesday in the online scientific
journal ZooKeys, said in an interview with Reuters he actually
made the discovery of the small-bodied herbivore in 1983.
Sereno, whose research involves mapping the dinosaur family
tree, said he came upon the specimen as a graduate student while
doing research in a Harvard University laboratory and intended
to write about it immediately. "I said, 'Whoa!' I realized it
was a new species from the moment I set eyes on it," Sereno
said. But he says he grew distracted by other things, and had in
mind a more ambitious research project. "There was always a
danger that someone would discover it and write about it, and I
would read about it," he said, but added it was all for the
best: "Hey, I'm smarter tha