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New dinosaur Uragasaurus kalasinensis discovered in Thailand

scienceJul 10, 202618130

Palaeontologists in Thailand have named a new plant-eating sauropod, Uragasaurus kalasinensis, from fossils recovered in Kalasin Province. The specimen, found at the Phu Noi site and reported by Dr Apirat Nilphanaphan of Mahasarakham University, is estimated to have lived about 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic. Researchers identified the species from a single distinctive dorsal vertebra, and a CT scan assigned it to the Mamenchisauridae family, known for extremely long necks. Uragasaurus measured up to 20 m, roughly the length of a cricket pitch, and shows unique features including a Y-shaped arrangement of laminae and an unusual air-cavity structure not seen in other dinosaurs. This is the first mamenchisaurid reported from Thailand, expanding the family’s known geographic range beyond China. The study was published in the journal Nature earlier this week. The discovery follows a May report of nagatitan, another long-necked herbivore from Thailand described as South-East Asia’s largest-known dinosaur.

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