Fossil remains found in Thailand have been determined to be those of a new species of carcharodontosaurus, a large carnivorous dinosaur group, according to the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in central Japan and Thailand's Khorat Fossil Museum.

A paper on the finding has been published in U.S. online journal PLOS One.

According to the Fukui museum, the fossils are those of a dinosaur in the carcharodontosaurus group and the most primitive among those of the same group that are given scientific names. Fukui Raptor, which has been excavated in Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture, is also a member of the group.

Researchers from the museum and a joint research team in Thailand found the fossil remains in a geographical layer dating back some 120 million years located about 300 kilometers northeast of Bangkok between 2007 and 2013.

The dinosaur was named Siamraptor suwati, a combination of a word meaning "looter in Thailand," and the name of former Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop, who contributed to promoting the fossil museum.

Siamraptor suwati is estimated to have measured some 8 meters in height and weighed some 1.5 tons.

By checking 22 bone pieces, including parts of the skull and limbs, the researchers found that the dinosaur had a unique dent on the back part of the lower jaw, concluding that the dinosaur is a new type.

"It was very meaningful to learn that carcharodontosaurus had a distribution spreading to Southeast Asia," said Soki Hattori, an associate professor at Fukui Prefectural University and a member of the research team.

JIJI Press