A new species of dinosaur has been identified in Thailand thanks to the unearthing of one of the best-preserved fossils ever found in South-East Asia.
Called Minimocursor phunoiensis, these dinosaurs lived during the late Jurassic age, which was about 150 million years ago.
Sita Manitkoon, from the Palaeontological Research and Education Centre at Thailand’s Mahasarakham University, led the study.
He says it is a “very special” find.
“I’m 34 years old and, well, I found a new dinosaur. It’s very, very exciting,” Dr Manitkoon says.
Here’s what we know about the creature.
What did it look like?
Researchers come up with visualisations of dinosaurs based on what information they have about them, which is a combination of art and science.
The bones give experts a pretty good idea of the dinosaurs’ shapes, but they’re left to fill the gaps when it comes to things like their colours.
So while researchers’ illustrations may look realistic, the dinosaurs might have looked different in real life.
Here’s a visual of the Minimocursor phunoiensis from a documentary which was published on YouTube under the username MR. DinoDigger.
You can see the artist has given the dinosaur a pinky-purple face and an orange beak-like mouth.
And here’s a more cartoonish interpretation of it, as posted to Instagram by Dr Manitkoon:
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It’s one of the best-preserved dinosaurs from the area
In a study published earlier this month, researchers said the fossil was an “exceptionally articulated skeleton” and was “one of the best-preserved dinosaurs ever found in Southeast Asia”.
“It’s one of the most complete skeletons,” Dr Manitkoon says.
“Previously, Thai dinosaurs, they usually find isolated bones, just some leg bones, some vertebrae, something like that.
“But in this case, we found a whole articulated skeleton, so it’s very special.”
It was pretty small
Based on the size of other bones found nearby, researchers think this was a young dinosaur.
They estimate it was only about 60 centimetres long — about the size of a medium dog.
But the adult versions would have been a bit bigger.
“We assume that at an adult stage, it may have been up to 2 metres long, based on the longest femur found,” researchers write.
Another scene in the documentary shows a recreation of the dinosaur compared to a human.
As you can see, it comes up to about mid-thigh-height:
Researchers reflected on how small it was when choosing its name.
They combined the Latin word “minimus” for “smallest” with “cursor” for “runner” to create the first part of its scientific name.
It was found in a dinosaur hotspot
Researchers found it at Phu Noi in the north-eastern Thai province of Kalasin.
In the study, researchers describe the location as a “small hill”, but it’s a rich deposit of bones.
“The Phu Noi locality contains a wealth of specimens.
“It is one of the richest Southeast Asian non-marine vertebrate bone-beds where teams from the Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, Mahasarakham University, and Sirindhorn Museum have worked for more than 10 years,” they write.
And there could still be more discoveries to come out of the area.
“Many of the remaining bones are still under preparation, including another skull,” researchers say.
ABC/AP
