An alligator fossil found in Nakhon Ratchasima back in 2005 has been confirmed as a distinct alligator species from those found in the United States and China, according to the Department of Mineral Resources.
The fossilised bones, which consist of a skull, two jawbones and five other fragments, were found by a resident in Non Sung district who alerted the department.
The bones were found buried under two metres of sandy sediment.
The department then enlisted the help of a team of researchers from Germany to identify the bones, which have been carbon-dated to about 230,000 years ago, commonly referred to as the Pleistocene period.
The researchers compared the bones to known samples from Alligator mississippiensis, which are commonly found in the United States, Alligator sinensis, which are common in China.
They concluded the alligator from which the bones came was likely a separate species that is native to the area.
Thitiphan Chuchanchot, deputy chief of the Department of Mineral Resources, said the team’s findings were recently published in Scientific Reports, a peer-reviewed journal affiliated with Nature.
“As the bones were found in the Mun River basin, we have named [the alligator] Alligator munensis, a reference to where it was first discovered,” Mr Thitiphan said.
Kantapon Suraprasit, a researcher with the Centre of Excellence for the Morphology of Earth Surface and Advanced Geohazards in Southeast Asia (MESA CE), said alligators are now only found in the United States, as well as China, where they face the risk of extinction.
How the two species diverged from their common ancestor remains unknown, but some experts believe both must have descended from the same ancestor — that is, an ancient alligator species that once roamed the Yangtze and Mekong-Chao Phraya river basins.