Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Health Care
Dependable Health Services
Physical Therapists Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Construction
West-Press
Printing

KANAZAWA, Japan — An amateur fossil hunter has unearthed what might be the largest fossil of a dinosaur tooth ever found in Japan.

Satoshi Utsunomiya found the fossil in June on red rock in the lower Cretaceous strata of the Earth in Hakusan, Japan.

Experts believe the time-worn tusk belonged to a therapod, one of a group of carnivorous dinosaurs that includes the Tyrannosaurus rex, which roamed the Earth 130 million years ago.

Almost perfectly preserved, the tooth measures 3.2 inches in length and is 1.1 inches wide at its widest.

According to the National Museum of Nature and Science, the largest tooth found previously in Japan is the 3-inch-long Mifuneryu, which was unearthed in Mifunemachi in 1979.

One expert said the Hakusan tooth is "the largest specimen found in perfect condition in this country."

Nobuomi Matsuura, a former director of the Hakusan Dinosaurs Park Shiramine in Hakusan, and Masahiro Tanimoto, a special member of the Palaeontological Society of Japan, authenticated the tooth.

They said they could not identify the species of dinosaur, but they estimated it to be about 30 feet long — making it one of the largest found in Japan.

The fossilized fang was found in the Tetori Group, the biggest area containing dinosaur fossils in Japan. The area spans the Hokuriku region and Gifu prefecture.