Nagaтιтan: Southeast Asia’s Giant “Last тιтan” Named!

Paleontologists have formally described Nagaтιтan chaiyaphumensis, the largest dinosaur ever discovered in Southeast Asia and the geologically youngest sauropod known from Thailand — earning it the nickname “the last тιтan” of the region.

Described May 14, 2026, in Scientific Reports by a Thai–British team led by Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul (University College London) and Sita Manitkoon (Mahasarakham University), the partial skeleton was first spotted by a villager beside a pond in Chaiyaphum Province in the Early Cretaceous Khok Kruat Formation (~100–120 million years ago). The bones — including mᴀssive humeri, vertebrae, and ribs — allowed researchers to estimate a body length of 27 meters and a mᴀss of approximately 27 tonnes, comparable to nine adult Asian elephants.

Nagaтιтan belongs to the Euhelopodidae, a family of тιтanosauriform sauropods previously known mainly from China. Its discovery dramatically expands the known diversity of Southeast Asian sauropods and supports the hypothesis that warm, open, relatively dry habitats favored the evolution of truly gigantic forms. “We refer to Nagaтιтan as ‘the last тιтan’ of Thailand,” Sethapanichsakul said, “because it comes from the youngest dinosaur-bearing rock formation in the country — after which the region became a shallow sea and sauropods vanished.”

The find also provides new insight into how these colossal herbivores thrived in what is now Thailand before the final fragmentation of Gondwana and the rise of the Western Interior Seaway in the north. CT scans reveal sophisticated air-sac systems supporting the enormous neck and body, while histological analysis confirms rapid growth rates typical of giant тιтanosaurs.

As additional material from the Khok Kruat Formation is prepared, Nagaтιтan promises to illuminate the final chapter of sauropod dominance in Southeast Asia — proving that even the “last тιтans” reached truly colossal sizes right up to the edge of their extinction from the region.