Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur, the largest-ever feathered one, in Liaoning Province.

A statement released by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences yesterday said that the new species is a close relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex. Its name "Yutyrannus huali" is a combination of Latin and Chinese and means "beautifully feathered tyrant."

Fossils previously discovered in the province have indicated that some small dinosaurs had bird-like feathers, whereas three fossil specimens of the new tyrannosauroid from the same region show that at least one much larger dinosaur had a feathery coat as well.

The Yutyrannus is believed to have lived during the Early Cretaceous period around 125 million years ago. The researchers estimate that an adult Yutyrannus would have been about 9 meters long and weighed about 1,400 kilograms. This makes it considerably smaller than the Tyrannosaurus rex, but some 40 times heavier than the largest previously-known feathered dinosaur, the statement said.