New dinosaur species found on Awajishima, gets mythical name
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A new dinosaur species was discovered on Awajishima island in Hyogo Prefecture, the place where the nation of Japan was born according to myth.
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A team led by Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, a professor of Hokkaido University, announced the finding in the British science journal Scientific Reports on April 27.
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Shingo Kishimoto, a 72-year-old amateur fossil collector from Himeji city, also in Hyogo Prefecture, found the fossils of the new species, including teeth and neck bones, in a stratum dating to the late Cretaceous Period, or about 72 million years ago, in the city of Sumoto on the island in 2004.
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A total of 23 related fossils have been discovered.
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The fossils belong to a family of Hadrosauridae, a duck-billed herbivore. Adults are estimated to have been 7 to 8 meters in body length and 4 to 5 tons in weight.
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The team compared the features of the teeth, neck bones and other fossils with 70 other types of Hadrosauridae by computer.
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The research results showed the creature found on Awajishima island had fewer exposed teeth at the lower jaw and other new features, leading the researchers to conclude that a new species had been discovered.
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They gave the new species the scientific name of Yamatosaurus izanagii.
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“Yamato” means “ancient Japan,” and “Izanagi” refers to a mythical god.
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They said they came up with the name because Awajishima island is said to be the birthplace of Japan.
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According to the team, the fossils also contained another significance in terms of origin.
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Hadrosauridae dinosaurs flourished in wide areas around the globe, excluding Australia and India.
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The researchers said the fossils showed that Yamatosaurus izanagii was a primitive species whose appearance did not change for 20 million years.
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Other primitive species of the Hadrosauridae family have been discovered in China and Mongolia, so the team believes these plant-eaters originated in Asia and Appalachian area in North America, and later started to prosper in Asia.
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“Yamatosaurus izanagii dinosaurs seem to indicate that Japan is an important place for studies on dinosaurs in Asia,” Makoto Manabe, deputy director of the National Museum of Nature and Science, said.
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(This article was written by Fumi Yada and Yuri Nishida.)
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