Scientists identify 30-ton Thailand Dinosaur Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis
Scientists identified a new thailand dinosaur, Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, from bones found in northeastern Thailand. The sauropod may have weighed 30 tons and stretched over 88 feet, making the find the largest dinosaur yet identified from Southeast Asia.
Sita Manitkoon, a paleontologist at Mahasarakham University in Thailand and a National Geographic Explorer, led the research team that studied the remains. Manitkoon said, "Initial measurements of the bones excavated suggested that this could be the largest dinosaur ever found in Southeast Asia."
Chaiyaphum Province bones
Thanom Luangnan uncovered the bones in 2016 in Chaiyaphum Province, northeastern Thailand, after he saw what the article described as strange-looking rocks on the banks of a public pond. Luangnan reported the bones to Thailand’s Department of Mineral Resources, opening the path to the later study.
The discovery was announced Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, and the remains came from 113-million-year-old rock. The dinosaur left behind vertebrae, ribs, hip bones, and limb bones, giving researchers enough material to place it in the somphospondyli group.
Khok Kruat Formation record
Pedro Mocho, a paleontologist at the Universidade de Lisboa in Portugal and a coauthor not involved in the study, said, "This is the most complete sauropod specimen discovered from the Khok Kruat Formation." That matters because big dinosaurs in Thailand had previously been known only from bits and pieces of skeletons.
The same formation also points to the kind of place Nagatitan lived in. Clues from the rock indicate relatively open, slightly dry shrublands, and Thailand sat closer to the equator at the time, during the Early Cretaceous about 110 to 120 million years ago.
Early Cretaceous giants
Paul Upchurch, a paleontologist at University College London and a coauthor of the study, said, "These subtle cues identify the Nagatitans as a group of immense dinosaurs that spread far and wide some 110 to 120 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous." The right forelimb is longer than that of other recently uncovered giant sauropods such as Patagotitan and Dreadnoughtus, adding another clue to how these animals were built.
For Thailand, the find turns a scattered fossil record into a more complete specimen from the Khok Kruat Formation, and it gives scientists a firmer reference point for giant sauropod evolution in Southeast Asia. The bones now anchor the next stage of study: how Nagatitan fits beside other giant dinosaurs and what the same Thai formation still holds underground.
