InsideJapan News Network

Fossilised teeth discovered in Japan's Hyogo prefecture may belong to an ancestor of the tyrannosaurus.

Officials from the Museum of Nature and Human Activities in Tamba, Hyogo stated that the fossils were found inside a strata rock formation estimated to be up to 140 million years old.

Should the fossils prove to be of a similar age to the rocks, it would suggest that the creature itself, which is estimated to be around five metres in length, could be an earlier stage of evolution of the famous tyrannosaurus.

Haruo Saegusa, curator of the Tamba museum, said: "If the dinosaur belongs to the same era as the strata, the tyrannosaurus could have started to grow larger much earlier than thought."

Earlier this month, Japanese archaeologists discovered a tomb in the Nara region that they believe may be the final resting place of Queen Himiko, the third-century ruler of the Yamatai Kingdom.

Written by Mark Smith


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