Scientists identify a 66-pound prehistoric rodent from Thailand

Scientists from Thailand, France, and Canada identified a new species of prehistoric rodent from fossils found in a coal mine in southern Thailand.

The team analyzed two teeth, a molar and an incisor, that were originally recovered in 2004 in the Krabi province. While the fossils were first mistaken for bones, the researchers eventually determined they belonged to a previously unknown member of the Ischyromyidae family.

The rodent lived in southern Thailand between 33 and 35 million years ago during the Paleogene period. The animal weighed roughly 66 pounds, which is about half the weight of a capybara, the largest rodent currently living in South America. Because the identification took more than two decades, researchers noted that the technology and evidence required to confirm the species were not available when the teeth were first discovered.

The researchers named the species Yakamys sirindhornae in honor of Princess Sirindhorn, a supporter of paleontological research. While the team confirmed the species' place in the fossil record, they still do not know what the animal looked like, what it ate, or how it behaved. Pannipa Tian, a geologist who first found the fossils, suggested the discovery indicates that ancient rodents may have first spread to other regions from what is now Thailand.