Thailand dinosaur fossils reveal two new species

Researchers in northeastern Thailand have identified two new dinosaur species this year, highlighting what scientists say is one of Southeast Asia's most important fossil regions.

The discoveries are Southeast Asia's largest dinosaur, Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, and the long-necked Uragasaurus kalasinensis. Researchers at Mahasarakham University hope further work will confirm Thailand's 16th dinosaur species within months.

Richard Cloutier, a visiting palaeontology professor from Canada's Universite du Quebec a Rimouski, said Thailand is a hotspot for research and discovery in Southeast Asia.

Suravech Suteethorn, deputy director of Mahasarakham University's Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, said Thailand's fossil record helps fill a geological gap around the transition between the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods about 140 million years ago.

Many of the specimens confirmed this year were found a decade or more ago, but required research and verification before being identified. More fossils are waiting to be tested, and researchers are working at Phu Wiang National Park on a large neck fossil they hope to confirm soon.

Uragasaurus, a plant-eater up to 20 metres long that lived about 150 million years ago, was the first dinosaur of its kind identified in Thailand. Nagatitan, a 27-tonne herbivore from Chaiyaphum province, lived 100 million to 120 million years ago.

Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, a University College London PhD student who co-authored the Nagatitan paper in Scientific Reports, said northeastern Thailand is well suited to fossil finds because dry conditions and sparse vegetation expose rocks of the right age.

The discoveries are also helping a small dinosaur tourism industry in a rural region better known for limited resources. Researchers said funding remains difficult and expeditions into remote areas can be costly.