The mounted skeleton of a newly-identified dinosaur once mistaken for a young Tyrannosaurus rex has sold at auction for a colossal $47.3m (£35.5m).

Nicknamed Jodi, the roughly 10-foot-tall (3m) skeleton was auctioned by Sotheby's in New York. The sale comes a year after researchers confirmed that the skeleton belongs to a distinct genus.

The Late Cretaceous carnivore was expected to fetch at least $9m when it went under the hammer on Tuesday. The auction comes after Sotheby's sold a Tyrannosaurus rex, dubbed Gus, for a record $50.1m in July.

The sale has reignited debate in the scientific community over whether dinosaur remains should be sold privately or displayed publicly.

Sotheby's described Jodi as an "excellent exhibition-ready" skeleton with about 191 fossil-bone elements and a "beautifully preserved, virtually complete skull".

The auction house added that the Nanotyrannus is "one of only three such skeletons known to science".…