New species of armored dinosaur's fossil found in Japan

A newly discovered species of armored dinosaur, related to the ankylosaurus, was recently found in Japan. It is only the third nodosaurid fossil found in Asia, and researchers say its ancestors may have migrated from North America.

(Image; A new species of armored dinosaur whose ancestors likely migrated from North America to Asia, a new study finds. Image credit: Masato Hattori)

Rare armored dinosaur found in Japan may have ancestors that migrated across a land bridge 100 million years ago

By Skyler Ware Edited by Laura Geggel, Kimberly Hickok, Live Science, September 24, 2026

Rare fossils discovered in Japan more than 30 years ago are from a new species of armored dinosaur — one whose ancestors likely reached Asia by trekking across a land bridge, a new study finds.

The newly named dinosaur, a type of nodosaurid, is now one of just three species of its kind found in Asia to date. It was named Nipponopelta yezoensis. "Nippon" refers to Japan, and "pelta" means "shield" in Greek. "Yezo" is the traditional name for Hokkaido.

The scarcity of nodosaurids in Asia, and the fact that the newly described beast is similar anatomically to those from North America, hint that its species likely arose from a migration from North America to Asia via the Bering Land Bridge, an ancient strip of land that connected present-day Alaska and Russia, researchers reported in the February 2027 issue of the journal Cretaceous Research.

"It's super cool to see [the specimen] getting a new look and a new name," said Victoria Arbour, manager of research and collections at the Royal B.C. Museum in Canada. Arbour was not involved in the new work.

Nodosaurids are armored dinosaurs covered in bony plates. They are closely related to ankylosaurids, but they lack the heavy tail clubs ankylosaurids used to protect themselves from predators. Nodosaurid fossils have primarily been found in North America and Europe, though a few have been uncovered in Asia.

In the new study, a team of researchers revisited one such fossil specimen originally discovered in 1995 on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of Japan. The scientists performed computed tomography (CT) scans of the fossils, which are somewhere between 93 million and 100 million years old, and include the back of the skull, part of the lower jaw, and several teeth and bony plates.

Discovered after 20 Years: Dinosaur Fossil Outside a School!

Do you ever think about finding a fossil whenever you walk by a large rock or outcropping of rocks? There's a school in Australia that had a large boulder outside for 20 years that no one regarded until a paleontologist came to the school and found out it was filled with dinosaur fossils! Today's blog shares the story.

 

(Photo: Dinosaur footprints discovered on a boulder outside a school in Queensland, Australia. University of Queensland)

For 20 years, this school had no idea there was a dinosaur fossil right outside 

The boulder in an Australian school foyer was covered in what looked like chicken feet — if those chickens were big and had only three toes.

March 12, 2025, NBC NEWS, By Mithil Aggarwal

For 20 years, students and teachers at Biloela State High School in Australia studied and worked next to a beige boulder without realizing it was a window into a lost world.

In 2021, following media coverage of dinosaur remains in the area, someone thought to have an expert look at the big rock sitting in foyer of the school in Queensland, eastern Australia. The boulder was covered in what looked like chicken feet — if those chickens were big and had only three toes.

That's when paleontologist Anthony Romilio came to the high school to examine the boulder and its unusual markings.

“I thought, 'Yes, it’s a small boulder, so I can just lift it up.' But oh my goodness, it was so heavy so I had to rethink this,” Romilio told NBC News in a phone interview.

(Image: An artist's impression of a herd of Pisanosaurus, believed to have made the footprints.University of Queensland)

Dinosaur footprints discovered on a rock in Australia Dinosaur footprints discovered on a boulder outside a school in Queensland, Australia. University of Queensland “They did not know that this was an actual fossil itself,” said Romilio, a research associate at the University of Queensland’s Dinosaur Lab and co-author of research published online Monday in the Historical Biology journal

He went on to identify 66 fossilized footprints from 47 individual dinosaurs left during the early Jurassic period, nearly 200 million years ago.

“It’s a huge number of dinosaurs, and it’s the highest number found in a single slab in Australia,” he said.

The school's deputy principal, David Hall, told the The Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Romilio's discoveries had been a shock, but also "a bit exciting."

Dinosaur footprints discovered on a rock in Australia

Romilio spreads silicone on a cast made from one of the rock samples.University of Queensland "It sits in a very public area in our student foyer and our kids walk past it every day, and so do we," he said.

He added that the school had ended up with the boulder about 20 years ago when a geologist who was married to one of the school's teachers came across it in a nearby mine.

(Photo: Paleontologist Anthony Romilio inspects a boulder Tuesday in a carpark near the town of Biloela, in central Queensland.University of Queensland)

“That area was going to be blasted or disturbed with the mining activities, and he saved that specimen and donated it to the school,” Hall added, according to ABC.

After seeing the remarkable rock at the school, Romilio decided to dig into the matter further, and drove to a nearby coal mine in Callide. There, another open-air secret confronted him.

“As I am coming into the car park, there was this massive boulder with another massive dinosaur footprint that’s just staring at you,” he said.

Dinosaur footprints discovered on a rock in Australia

An artist's impression of a herd of Pisanosaurus, believed to have made the footprints.University of Queensland 

“And just my jaw dropped," he said, and remembers thinking: "This is incredible.”

The boulder at the mine contained two footprints, one that was obvious and another half broken and hidden with mud. Together with a third rock that is part of a private collection and encased in resin, researchers have been able to piece together an ancient history of the area.

These records are a critical window into the Jurassic period in Australia, when “the most common dinosaur fossils are footprints, by several orders of magnitude,” Romilio said.

For now, the school boulder remains where it is, and discussions are underway for it to be relocated to a more public venue.

“It’s a part of their community and really a part of their heritage,” Romilio said.