They found a new species of dinosaur in Japan – News

Japanese researchers have identified a new dinosaur species by reconstructing an almost complete skeleton eight meters long, the largest ever discovered in the Japanese archipelago.

After badyzing hundreds of bone of 72 million years, the team led by the University of Hokkaido (northern Japan) concluded that this skeleton belonged to a new species of the family of hadrosaurids, known as "duckbill dinosaurs". , herbivore of the end of the Cretaceous geological period.

In 2013, part of its tail was found and, during later excavations, all the bones were found.

The team gave him the name of "Kamuysaurus japonicus", which means "Japanese dragon god", according to a statement from the university.

The authors estimate that it was a nine-year-old adult, who would have weighed between 4 and 5.3 tons, depending on whether he was walking on two or four legs.

The discovery was published in the British specialist magazine "Scientific Reports".

"The fact that a new dinosaur was found in Japan means that an independent dinosaur world already existed in Japan or East Asia, with an independent evolutionary process," said the team leader, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, quoted in the statement of the University.

"It's weird that one [esqueleto de] A dinosaur so well preserved has been found in East Asia, "Kobayashi told AFP on Friday.

"Japan has many marine sediments, so we hope more dinosaurs will be discovered in the future," he added.

"Kamuysaurus japonicus" probably lived in coastal areas, an unusual habitat for dinosaurs of this period. The bones also give information about their environment.

The discovery highlights the hypothesis that some species of dinosaurs "would prefer to occupy areas close to the ocean and that the coastal environment had an important role in the diversification" of dinosaurs at the beginning of their evolution, according to the University of Hokkaido.