New T. rex’s relative, a double decker bus sized dinosaur discovered

(T. rex), a large dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous era, stands out as one of the most iconic and terrifying terrestrial predators in history. Recent paleontological findings have introduced a new "subspecies" within the tyrannosaur family, identified through the remarkably preserved partial skull unearthed in western New Mexico.

Named , this newfound relative shares the predatory nature and intimidating stature of T. rex. The enormous beast was around 40 feet (12 meters) long and 12 feet (3.6 meters) tall, or nearly the size of a double decker bus. Filling in the missing gaps The fossil, discovered many years ago, suggests that Tyrannosaurus arrived in North America far earlier than previously thought by paleontologists.

Previous fossil evidence revealed that the Tyrannosaurus family arrived in North America suddenly around 66 million years ago. However, this presented a significant puzzle, as fossil evidence was scarce, particularly concerning the details of how it migrated to and evolved on the continent. But this new fossil evidence of their earliest known relative may help fill in the missing gaps.

The findings indicate that giant tyrannosaurs emerged millions of years earlier than previously thought in southern North America. From here, they may have traveled and expanded into most of the western part of the continent. “New Mexicans have always known our state is special, now we know that New Mexico has been a special place for tens of millions of years,” Dr Fiorillo, Executive Director of NMMNHS said.

Bone by bone analysis In this study, the team meticulously analyzed the skeleton, examining each bone individually and making comparisons with previously discovered T. rex skeletons. As a result, it became apparent that the skeleton is attributed to a newly identified subspecies of tyrannosaur. “The differences are subtle, but that’s typically the case in closely related species.

Evolution slowly causes mutations to build up over millions of years, causing species to look subtly different over time,” said Dr Nick Longrich, a co author from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, in the The team observed distinctions in the jaw bones, making it improbable that the specimen was a “direct ancestor.” The fossil indicates that there are likely more unknown tyrannosaur species waiting to be unearthed.

The fragmentary skull is currently on display at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (NMMNHS). The findings were reported in the journal Tyrannosaurid dinosaurs dominated as predators in the Late Cretaceous of Laurasia, culminating in the evolution of the giant Tyrannosaurus rex, both the last and largest tyrannosaurid.

Where and when Tyrannosaurini (T. rex and kin) originated remains unclear. Competing hypotheses place tyrannosaurin origins in Asia, or western North America (Laramidia). We report a new tyrannosaurin, Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis, from the Campanian–Maastrichtian Hall Lake Formation of New Mexico, based on a fossil previously referred to T.

rex. T. mcraeensis predates T. rex by ~ 6–7 million years, yet rivaled it in size. Phylogenetic analysis recovers T. mcraeensis as sister to T. rex and suggests Tyrannosaurini originated in southern Laramidia. Evolution of giant tyrannosaurs in southern North America, alongside giant ceratopsians, hadrosaurs, and titanosaurs suggests large bodied dinosaurs evolved at low latitudes in North America..