DINOSAUR FOSSILS FOUND IN WEST JAPAN IN 2004 IDENTIFIED AS NEW SPECIES

A team of researchers in Japan have found that pieces of fossilized dinosaur bones that were unearthed on the west Japan island of Awaji in Hyogo Prefecture in 2004 were from a new species.

The dinosaur has since been named Yamatosaurus izanagii in a nod to the "Kojiki," or "records of ancient matters," compiled in 712, which mentions the island, Hanami Matsumuro reported for Mainichi Shimbun.

The team consisting of researchers at Hokkaido University, Okayama University of Science, and others' studies of the fossils of the mandible and other bones concluded that they belonged to a new species of an herbivorous dinosaur, based on its unique dentition characters.

The fossilized bones of its lower jaw, shoulder and other parts were discovered from the Late Cretaceous stratum dating back some 72 million years ago in the Hyogo Prefecture city of Sumoto in May 2004 by amateur fossil collector Shingo Kishimoto, 72, who lives in the city of Himeji in the same prefecture.

Initially, the dinosaur was considered to belong to a species of Lambeosaurinae, a genus of Hadrosauridae, a duck-billed herbivorous dinosaur.

The research team then analyzed the fossil in detail.

As there were unique features such as there being only a single row of teeth as opposed to other hadrosaurid dinosaurs which had multiple rows, they determined it to be a new species.

As part of its shoulder bone was not fully developed, it was found to be a primitive Hadrosauridae species.

Its body length is apparently estimated at 7 to 8 meters, and weight at 4 to 5 metric tons.

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