Fossils of miniature, fanged plant-eaters known as heterodontosaurs, or "different-toothed reptiles," have turned up as far apart as England and China. Now, a new and especially bizarre species of dwarf herbivore has been identified in a slab of red rock that was collected in the early 1960s by scientists working in South Africa.

In a report published Wednesday in the online journal ZooKeys, Paul Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago and a dinosaur specialist, described the strange anatomy of the newfound member of the heterodontosaur family and gave the species the name Pegomastax africanus, or "thick jaw from Africa."

When he first viewed the specimen at a Harvard laboratory in 1983, Sereno said, "My eyes popped, as it was clear this was a distinct species."

Embedded in the rock were remains of a creature with a parrotlike beak, 1-inch jaws, sharp teeth and a skull no less than 3 inches long. The body was less than 2 feet in length and probably weighed less than a house cat.

His close examination showed that behind the parrot-shaped beak were a pair of stabbing canines up front and a set of tall teeth tucked behind for slicing plants.

Sereno concluded that the creature's fangs, unusual for a herbivore, were probably "for nipping and defending themselves, not for eating meat."