A fossil dinosaur tooth belonging to new species, aged 140 million years, has been discovered in Malaysia.
Researchers have found a 140-million-year-old dinosaur tooth in Malaysia, which belongs to a new species within the ‘bird-hipped’ Ornithischian order, on November 13, 2014. Lead researcher Masatoshi Sone from the department of geology at the University of Malaya stated that there may be a chance that large dinosaur fossil deposits could still exist in the country.
The programme to search for dinosaur fossils began in 2012, which also saw participation from Japan’s Waseda University and Kumamoto University.
The Ornithischian order is a major group comprising herbivorous dinosaurs, such as triceratops, which would have been the estimated size of a horse. The tooth fossil that was discovered in a sedimentary rock formation is 13mm long and 10.5mm wide, as per Sone.
The team of Malaysian and Japanese palaeontologists found it close to the site where the first Malaysian dinosaur fossil, about 75 million years old, was discovered two years ago. The previously found fossil belonged to a fish-eating predator from the Spinosaurid family, which is believed to be semi-aquatic. At present, the location of these discoveries is under wraps in order to preserve the sites.
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