Scientists from Scotland have discovered a new species of carnivorous dinosaur that stalked the Earth more than 66 million years ago, sported a long nose and has been nicknamed "Pinocchio rex."

A cousin of the so-called "King" of the dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex, the Pinocchio rex -- whose unofficial moniker was inspired by the children's tale of the wooden boy whose nose grew longer every time he told a lie -- lived in Asia during the late Cretaceous period.

Details about the new find findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Up until the remains of the Pinocchio rex were unearthed in China by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, paleontologists were uncertain a long-snouted tyrannosaurs even existed, since only two fossilized tyrannosaurs with elongated heads, both of which were juveniles, had previously been found.

The newly-found specimen was nearing adulthood when it died, the science team said.

"This is a different breed of tyrannosaur: It has the familiar toothy grin of T. rex, but its snout was much longer and it had a row of horns on its nose," Steve Brusatte, a chancellor's fellow in vertebrate paleontology at University of Edinburgh, said in a news release. "It might have looked a little comical, but it would have been as deadly as any other tyrannosaur, and maybe even a little faster and stealthier."

The ancient meat eater, formally called Qianzhousaurus sinensis, had an elongated skull and long, narrow teeth compared to the greater, more powerful jaws and thick teeth of the T. rex.

Researchers have created a new branch of the tyrannosaur family for specimens with long snouts and now expect more new dinosaurs to be added to the group.

Qianzhousaurus sinensis -- Pinocchio -- lived until about 66 million years ago, when all of the dinosaurs died off, which scientists generally believe was the result of a catastrophic asteroid impact.