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Paleontologists have actually recognized a brand-new genus and types of somphospondylan titanosauriform dinosaur– the biggest ever discovered in Southeast Asia– from the fossilized bones discovered in Thailand, providing fresh proof that the area was home to a remarkably varied group of huge plant-eaters throughout the Early Cretaceous.
Elegant life restoration of Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis within the dry floodplains of Late Early Cretaceous Aptian-Albian Thailand. Image credit: Patchanop Boonsai.
The newly-described dinosaur types strolled what is now northeastern Thailand around 113 million years earlier.
Called Nagatitan chaiyaphumensisthe ancient huge determined 27 m (89 feet) in length and weighed in between 25 and 28 lots.
It co-existed with smaller sized plant-eating dinosaurs such as iguanodontians and early branching ceratopsians, predatory dinosaurs such as carcharodontosaurians and spinosaurids, in addition to sharks, turtles, crocodile loved ones and pterosaurs.
“Our dinosaur is huge by the majority of people’s requirements– it most likely weighed a minimum of 10 heaps more than Dippy the Diplodocus (Diplodocus carnegii,” stated lead author Thitiwoot (Perth) Sethapanichsakul, a Ph.D. trainee at University College London.
“However, it is still overshadowed by sauropods like Patagotitan (60 lots) or Ruyangosaurus (50 lots).”
The fossils of Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis were excavated from the Khok Kruat Formation in Thailand’s Chaiyaphum province.
“We describe Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis as ‘the last titan’ of Thailand. That is due to the fact that it was found in Thailand’s youngest dinosaur-bearing rock development,” Sethapanichsakul stated.
“Younger rocks set towards completion of the time of the dinosaurs are not likely to include dinosaur remains since the area already had actually ended up being a shallow sea.”
“So this might be the last or latest big sauropod we will discover in Southeast Asia.”
To identify where Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis fit on the sauropod ancestral tree, the paleontologists compared its anatomy with more than 150 other dinosaur types.
Their analysis put the brand-new types within Euhelopodidae, a group of somphospondylan titanosauriforms understood mostly from Asia.
The group consists of other widely known types from the area, such as Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae from Thailand and Tangvayosaurus hoffeti from Laos.
“We recommend it became part of a wider middle Cretaceous body size boost in Asian titanosauriforms, assisted in by increasing temperature levels and broadened ideal environment,” the scientists stated.
“The discovery of Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis broadens the recognized variety of Southeast Asian sauropods and enhances our understanding of titanosauriform biogeography within the area.”
The group’s paper was released today in the journal Scientific Reports
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T. Sethapanichsakul et al2026. The very first sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Khok Kruat Formation of Thailand enhances the variety of somphospondylan titanosauriforms in southeast Asia. Sci Rep 16, 12467; doi: 10.1038/ s41598-026-47482-x
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