Dinosaur footprints are found in Zhaoqing, South China's Guangdong Province.Photo: The Beijing News

The dinosaur footprints that were first spotted by a middle school student in Zhaoqing, South China's Guangdong Province, were officially confirmed by a research team at China University of Geosciences (CUG) on Monday. 

Seven theropod footprints were discovered. The one that is best preserved was made by the trail maker while trotting at a speed approximately of 2.57 meters per second, said experts. 

The footprints were first found accidentally by a junior student Ni Zijie from Guangzhou when he saw some fossils suspected to be of dinosaur footprints near a construction site in Huaiji county, Zhaoqing in July 2021. He later contacted the CUG. 

It was the first report of a discovery of dinosaur footprints in Zhaoqing. Dinosaur fossils have previously been found in the Nanxiong and Heyuan Basins of Guangdong, reported The Beijing News. The new discovery in the western parts of Guangdong indicates that the range of Cretaceous dinosaurs in China has been expanded.