New species of carnivorous dinosaur that existed 90 million years ago has been discovered by a group of researchers on the island of Madagascar, according to an Alf Museum press release.

According to the press release, Andrew Farke, Augustyn Family Curator of Paleontology at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, made the discovery with his team of researchers.The team has found one of the most important missing piece in the island's fossil record. Dahalokely tokana (pronounced "dah-HAH-loo-KAY-lee too-KAH-nah") existed 90 million years ago belonging to a group of carnivorous dinosaurs found in the southern continents called "abelisauroids".

Until recently, a 95 million year gap in dinosaur remains had been recorded as no remains from 165 to 70 million years ago were identified in Madagascar. However, with the discovery of Dahalokely, this gap has been shortened by 20 million years. The remains of Dahalokely were dug in 2007 and 2010 from the northernmost region of Madagascar in a nearby city Antsiranana (Diego-Suarez), says the press release.

Researchers discovered some interesting remains, which include vertebrae and ribs, moreover the recovery of unique features of the shape of the cavities on the sides of the vertebrae is like in no other dinosaur.

The researchers were able to identify the fossils as a new species because vertebrae and ribs are very unique in some dinosaurs

During the Dahalokely's times, Madagascar was no separate island; in fact it was connected to India and was cut off in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The research confirms that the Dahalokely may have been the ancestors of the animals that lived in Madagascar and India.

"We had always suspected that abelisauroids were in Madagascar 90 million years ago, because they were also found in younger rocks on the island. Dahalokely nicely confirms this hypothesis," project leader Andrew Farke said. "But, the fossils of Dahalokely are tantalizingly incomplete-there is so much more we want to know. Was Dahalokely closely related to later abelisauroids on Madagascar, or did it die out without descendants?"

The name Dahalokely tokana is derived from the Malagasy language which means "lonely small bandit." Researchers believe the reason for the name would be because of their diet at that time when Madagascar and India was separated from the rest of the world.

"This dinosaur was closely related to other famous dinosaurs from the southern continents, like the horned Carnotaurus from Argentina and Majungasaurus, also from Madagascar," said project member Joe Sertich, Curator of Dinosaurs at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the team member who discovered the new dinosaur. "This just reinforces the importance of exploring new areas around the world where undiscovered dinosaur species are still waiting."

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE, April 18 and funded by the Jurassic Foundation, Sigma Xi, National Science Foundation, and the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology.