The skeleton of a Gorgosaurus will be auctioned in New York at the end of July.
It is the first skeleton of such a dinosaur that has ever been offered for auction and could bring in up to eight million dollars (around 7.8 million euros), said the auction house Sotheby's on Tuesday.
The Gorgosaurus, believed to have lived more than 70 million years ago, was related to and resembled the Tyrannosaurus, according to scientists, but was significantly smaller.
Most of the Gorgosaurus fossils have been found in Canada, and all remains found so far are in public collections.
The skeleton, which is around three meters high and almost seven meters long, which was discovered in 2018 in the US state of Montana and is to be auctioned on July 28, is the first that can go into private ownership, according to the auction house.
A skeleton of the dinosaur species Deinonychus antirrhopus was auctioned in New York for around twelve million dollars in May, and in 2020 a skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex fetched more than 30 million dollars.
However, many experts are critical of the auction of scientifically valuable skeletons.