Science Sasayamagnomus saegusai: Japan's latest dinosaur

The research team, whose members belong to the University of Hyogo, the Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo, and the Okayama University of Science, named the dinosaur "Sasayamagnomus samurai." "Gnomus" comes from a gnome, a legendary dwarf who guards buried treasure. "Saegusai" refers to Haruo Saegusa, a palaeontologist who oversaw excavations of dinosaur fossils in the Tanba area for many years. Part of the fossils were found in 2007 by Kiyoshi Adachi, a former high school teacher and amateur geologist. An excavation project started the following year. Adachi, 81, and others discovered fossils of Tambatitanis, one of the largest herbivorous dinosaurs ever found in Japan, from the Sasayama Group in 2006. Seventeen fossils, from the head, shoulder and leg of Sasayamagnomus saegusai, were unearthed by 2023. The researchers concluded that it is a new genus and species because the fossils' characteristics differed from those of other ceratopsians.

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