Siamraptor suwati: A New Species Of Giant Predatory Dinosaur Found In Thailand

Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – A new species of carnivorous dinosaur that as researchers say, is as large as a bus, has been unearthed at a dinosaur graveyard in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

The 115 million-year-old remains were identified and now researchers know they belong to a predatory dinosaur (named Siamraptor suwati, with shark-like teeth.

Skeletal reconstruction of Siamraptor suwati. Cranial elements were scaled to fit in with the holotype (surangular). Scale bar equals 1 m.

These fossils include remains of the skull, backbone, limbs, and hips of at least four individual dinosaurs and morphological comparison with known species led the authors to identify these remains as belonging to a previously unknown genus and species of carcharodontosaur.

“Physical and genetic analysis indicates the Siamraptor is a basal member of the Carcharodontosaurs. This means it represents a very early evolutionary split from the rest of the group,” study lead author Dr Duangsuda Chokchaloemwong, of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhatn University, said in a press release.

Siamraptor skull reconstruction. Image credit: Chokchaloemwong et al., 2019

It is also the first definitive carcharodontosaur known from Southeast Asia, and combined with similarly-aged finds from Europe and Africa, it reveals that this group of dinosaurs had already spread to three continents by the Early Cretaceous.

The creature was at least 8 meter long and most probably fast, running on its hind legs to hunt prey. It lived in Late Cretaceous, 98-94 million years ago in North Africa and was approximately 15 meters long, according to the British National History Museum.

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Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff