Researchers identify a large tyrannosaur femur fossil in Weifang's Zhucheng county, Shandong province. [Photo/Dazhong News]

Researchers in Zhucheng county, East China's Shandong province, recently found a large tyrannosaur femur fossil with a length of 1.21 meters. It was confirmed by paleontologists from the United States and Canada to the longest tyrannosaur femur ever found in Asia.

The large tyrannosaurus femur fossil measures 1.21 meters in length. [Photo/Dazhong News]

The research team further conducted a high-accuracy measurement and 3D scanning of a tyrannosaurus vertebra housed in the China Tyrannosaurus Hall in Zhucheng, which exceeded 28 centimeters in width – very close to that of the largest tyrannosaurus found in the world.

Due to the long femur, researchers inferred that Zhucheng was once the home to large tyrannosaurus rex species, with a body length exceeding 12 meters.

"Further research is needed to confirm whether this large femur fossil belongs to the known Zhuchengtyrannus magnus or not. This lends further credence to the hypothesis that the Tyrannosaurus Rex originated in Asia," said Chen Shuqing from the county's dinosaur culture research center.

Zhucheng in Weifang is revered as the "city of dinosaurs" in China, repeatedly breaking world records in dinosaur research. There have been more than 10 dinosaur species unearthed and named here by institutions including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University, enriching paleontology research.