Tyrannosaurus rex is a very classic predatory dinosaur, especially members of the late tyrannosaur family, which can be described as a model of carnivorous dinosaurs that exerted their killing ability to the extreme. Someone once said, "When I talk about Tyrannosaurus rex, I can't help but associate with death." At the beginning of this year, a new member of the Tyrannosaurus family was published, and it was directly named "Death".
The discovery of dinosaur fossils dates back a decade to 2010. John de groot, a farmer and paleontologist, stumbled upon some skull fossils belonging to large carnivorous dinosaurs while walking with his family along the banks of the bow river in southern Alberta, and they quickly contacted the royal tyrrell museum. The museum soon sent professionals to excavate the fossils. The fossil remains have obvious characteristics of dinosaurs of the family Tyrannosaurus, and may have belonged to a daspletosaurus, so the specimen did not attract much attention and was first stacked in the warehouse.
Photo note: Magnificent scenery along the Bow River in Canada, picture from the Internet
Photo note: John De Groot with his discovery of fossils, picture from the internet
In 2018, Jared Voris, a master's student at the University of Calgary, was doing some research on the Tyrannosaurus family, and when he visited the Royal Taylor Museum storehouse, he noticed the fossils, and he found that the fossils had different characteristics from other tyrannosaurs, most likely a new species, which aroused interest in research.
Caption: Jared Voorhees examining fossils in the vault, image from the Web
Image note: Voorhees (center) is displaying fossils of new varieties, image from the web
After two years of research, Voorhees discovered that this is really a whole new species! This thrills Paleontologists in Canada, as it is the first neo-tyrannosaur dinosaur discovered in Canada in 50 years, and the fifth Tyrannosaurus rex found in Canada (previously Tyrannosaurus rex, Dinosaur, Albertaurus and Serpentine). "There are very few countries in the world that have five tyrannosaurs at once, which is enough to blow us up for a while!" Francois Therrien, director of dinosaur paleontology at the Royal Tyler Paleontology Museum, is very proud to say.
Voris named this new family of tyrannosaurs "thanatotheristes degrootorum", which translates to Chinese "Degreuttanatosurus". The genus name derives from the Greek myths of the gods of death, thanatos and the reapers. Therefore, we can also call it the Dead Raider.
Note: A known fossil part of Apatosaurus, picture from the web
Image note: Fossil part of The Dead Raider, picture from the web
There are not many fossils of Apatosaurus , only some of which are fragmented skulls , but these fossils also show how different it is from other tyrannosaur families. The zygomatic cross-section of the dead-robin was oval in shape, and the maxilla had several evenly distributed, vertically protruding ridges. The bones around the orbit are very rough, so it is speculated that there were structures at both ends of the upper jaw and around the eyes.
Image note: The eye socket of the dead raider, surrounded by many folds, the picture comes from the network
Although the skull is incomplete, it can be roughly inferred from the cogging groove that the upper jaw of the dead skimmer had at least 14 teeth. These teeth are very stout, and combined with a strong upper and lower jaw, they can leave a permanent "mark" on the prey. Just as most Tyrannosaurus rex fossils have scars, the dead-snatchers also have a scar about 4 inches long on their jaws, which should be the mark left by its struggles with its kind or other predators.
The researchers pointed out the scars on the fossils of the dead marjoram, pictured from the internet
Illustration: Wounds on the jaws of the Dead Raiders (white dotted lines) and protruding ridges (black arrows)
According to the consortia of close relatives, the skull of the dead predator is about 0.8 meters long, and the total length is estimated to be 8 meters. In view of the large proportion of the head of the tyrannosaurs, the actual length of the probably dead predators is about 7 meters, and the other Canadian tyrannosaurs can grow up to 10 meters or even larger, so the dead tyrannosaurs have become the smallest Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaurs found in Canada, and the size of the entire Tyrannosaurus rex family is only at the upper middle level.
Living in southern Canada about 79 million years ago, It is one of the earliest tyrannosaurs ever discovered, 2.5 million years before its close relatives.
Illustration: Comparison of the size of the Dead Raider and the human, drawn by Cisiopurple
In terms of taxonomy, the dead-robed dragon belonged to the daspletosaurini. The members of this taxon, in addition to the Dead Raiders, contained two species of dinosaurs (d.torosus, d. d. horneri）。 The Dinosaur looked like a smaller Tyrannosaurus Rex, with a very stout body, a thick and powerful head, and forelimbs longer and more robust than those of the common Tyrannosaurus rex family. Although the specimen of the Necronodontosaurus has only partial skull remains, it is speculated that it should have had a similar body structure according to its close relative, the Dinosaur.
Photo note: Fear of dragons. Scotthartman draws
Another group of tyrannosaurs living with the Dragon-Fearing Family is the albertosaurinae subfamily Albertaurus, which includes Albertaurus and Serpent-haired Banshees. Unlike the stout dinosaurs, members of the Albertaurus subfamily appeared more slender, with lower, elongated heads, and longer hind legs, and the Albertaosaurus subfamily was more like a large carnivorous dinosaur of the speed type. Two different morphological tyrannosaurs lived together and may have evolved different predation strategies to avoid direct competition. Dragons may be better at attacking equally strong horned dragons, while Alberta dragons are more agile and should be better at hunting down duck-billed dragons that also have greater speeds.
Photo note: Alberta Dragon and Serpent-Haired Banshee Dragon. Getawaytrike draws
The Dinosaurs and albertan subfamily were not the only tyrannosaurs in North America at the time. In the southern part of the Continent of Laramidea in North America, there are a number of other distinctive tyrannosaurs: bistahieversor, lythronax, and teratophoneus. Among them, the dragons are very large, reaching up to 9 meters, and the Blood King Dragon and the Strange Hunting Dragon are even smaller. As far as the current fossil distribution is concerned, the tyrannosaurs in the north and south of the Continent of Laramidia have not yet intersected with each other, probably because of the geographical barriers.
Caption: Different Tyrannosaurus rex species in the north and south of the continent of Laramidia, picture from the Internet
Photo note: Dragon abuse. Getawaytrike draws
Picture note: Blood King Dragon. Getawaytrike draws
Resources:
1.voris, jared t.; therrien, francois; zelenitzky, darla k.; brown, caleb m. (2020). "a new tyrannosaurine (theropoda:tyrannosauridae) from the campanian foremost formation of alberta,
2."thanatos, n." oed online. oxford university press. september 2014. retrieved november 18, 2014.
3.black, riley (february 10, 2020). "newly discovered tyrannosaur was key to the rise of giant meat-eaters". smithsonian. retrieved february 11, 2020.
Image / Network (Intrusion and Deletion)
Text / Jiang's Little Thief Dragon (Jiang Hong)
Typography / Jiang's Little Thief Dragon
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