Asia's largest tyrannosaurus rex femur discovered

A 1.21m-long tyrannosaur femur fossil has been confirmed as the largest tyrannosaur femur ever found in Asia.

Paleontologists in Zhucheng city, Shandong province, eastern China have just found a fossil of a tyrannosaur femur measuring 1.21m long.

This is confirmed to be the largest tyrannosaur femur ever found in Asia.

The discovery is the result of a collaborative research project between China, the United States and Canada.

The research team also discovered a giant tyrannosaur vertebra, more than 28cm wide, almost the same size as the vertebrae of “Sue” - the world's most famous Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, currently on display at the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago, USA).

The combination of giant femurs and massive vertebrae suggests that Chu Thanh was once home to tyrannosaurs measuring over 12m in length, rivaling “Sue” – considered one of the largest T. rex individuals ever recorded.

Notably, Zhucheng was previously known for the fossils of Zhuchengtyrannus magnus, a tyrannosaurus rex species that has been confirmed to have lived in the area.

Scientists are still analyzing to determine whether the newly discovered skeleton belongs to Zhuchengtyrannus magnus.

“Although further research is needed to make a final conclusion on whether this is Zhuchengtyrannus magnus, the size of these fossils proves that they belong to Asia’s largest tyrannosaur. In addition, they also provide new evidence to support the hypothesis that tyrannosaurs originated in Asia,” said Chen Shuqing, an expert at the Zhucheng Dinosaur Culture Research Center.

Dubbed the "dinosaur city of China", up to now, Zhucheng has provided archaeologists with fossils of more than 10 new dinosaur species./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/phat-hien-xuong-dui-khung-long-bao-chua-lon-nhat-chau-a-post1057665.vnp