LEWISTON — If there’s such a thing as a rock star in the world of paleontology, it would be Drexel University’s Ken Lacovara.

Lacovara is credited with leading a team that unearthed the skeleton of a newly described dinosaur said to be among the most monstrous of creatures ever to stomp across the land.

How monstrous? Its discoverers have deemed the 85-foot long, 65-ton creature as “Dreadnoughtus: the new super-giant dinosaur from Patagonia.”

Lacovara will be at Bates College Thursday afternoon to discuss his finding after he was enticed to speak by the school’s geology professor Beverly Johnson.

The discussion will take place in Room 204 of the Carnegie Science Building from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m.

Lacovara and his team discovered the fossil in 2005. He’s been everywhere since, discussing his findings in scientific journals and getting profiled by some of the biggest publications in the world. Everyone, it seems, wants a piece of the Dreadnoughtus. From a safe distance, anyway.

“Probably a pretty surly beast,” Lacovara told the New York Times. “I wouldn’t want to get anywhere near this guy. If he leaned against you, you’re dead.”

Researchers have since performed laser scans of the discovered bones and published 3D models, which allows other paleontologists around the world to study the fossil.