The fossil of a new dinosaur species, a long-necked herbivore thought to have weighed as much as nine elephants, has been found in Thailand.
A team of Thai and British researchers announced the discovery of the new species, scientific name Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, in the journal Scientific Reports Thursday. The dinosaur is classified as a sauropod, a type of long-necked herbivore that also includes the Brontosaurus.
Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, the study’s authors said, is the largest dinosaur of the titanosauriform subtype ever found in Southeast Asia. The researchers believe it weighed between around 27.5 to 30.8 tons.
Researcher Sita Manitkoon told National Geographic that the discovery, which is estimated to have been over 88 feet in length, could be the largest dinosaur of any type to be found in Southeast Asia to date.
The formation that the fossil was found in is about 113 million years old, according to National Geographic, though it was only found by a local man in 2016, who reported seeing odd rocks on the banks of a pond.
Researcher Thitiwoot Sethapanicsakul thinks that the find could be the last of its kind, telling Discover Wildlife that “it was discovered in Thailand’s youngest dinosaur-bearing rock formation. Younger rocks laid down towards the end of the time of the dinosaurs are unlikely to contain dinosaur remains because the region by then had become a shallow sea. So this may be the last or most recent large sauropod we will find in Southeast Asia.”
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