Thailand’s Mineral Resources Department will hold a news conference on Tuesday to announce the unearthing of fossilized bones believed to belonging to a species of mid-sized carnivorous dinosaur previously unrecorded in Thailand.
Called the Vayuraptor nongbualamphuensis, it is the 11th dinosaur species to be discovered in the Phu Wat excavation pits in Phu Kao-Phupandam national park in the north-eastern province of Nong Bua Lamphu.
According to Mr. Pladet Srisuk, a research official at Maha Sarakham University, the dinosaur’s name was drawn from the Sanskrit name of a Hindu god Vayu, or Phra Pai.
Judging from the fossilized leg bones, it is believed the creature was very agile, about 4-4.5 metres long and was classified as a member of the basal Coelurosauria family.
Vayuraptor was a dinosaur that lived in the Cretaceous period, which began about 130 million years ago and ended about 65 million years ago, around the time when 94% of the dinosaurs on planet Earth were wiped out, including the Vayuraptor.
