Another type of dinosaur was discovered in New Mexico just this week.

Paleontologist Robert Sullivan led the joint team from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and the State Museum of Pennsylvania has unveiled the dinosaur Wednesday.

The dinosaur's fossils were discovered in 2011 at the Kirtland Formation at Hunter Wash, San Juan Basin in New Mexico.

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The new dino is called Ziapelta sanjuanensis and belongs to the family of Ankylosauridae (ankylosaurs, ankylosaurids), which are herbivorous dinosaurs with armored plates on their backs.

Sullivan said the name of the ankylosaurs is from Zia, the sun symbol on the state flag of New Mexico, the word pelta is a Latin word for small shield and San Juan, Mexico.

Ankylosauridae are believed to have lived between 122 million and 66 million years ago in the lands of East Asia, North America and Europe.

Scientists suggested they roamed around New Mexico during the so-called Kirtlandian land-vertebrate faunal age 74.8 million to 72.8 million years ago.

The newly discovered Ziapelta is different from other types of akylosaurs unearthed in the U.S., Canada and Asia. Aside from the unique armored plates on their skulls, they have uncommon shaped horns.

"The horns on the back of the skull are thick and curve downwards, and the snout has a mixture of flat and bumpy scales - an unusual feature for an ankylosaurid. There's also a distinctive large triangular scale on the snout, where many other ankylosaurids have a hexagonal scale," said Dr. Victoria Arbour, lead author of the research paper from the University of Alberta.

Uncovering more fossils can explain why Ziapelta's closest relatives are from Canada, said researchers.

Tags Ziapelta sanjuanensis, Ankylosauridae, ankylosaurs, New Mexico, New Dinosaur in New Mexico, Dinosaur Fossils