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A crew of researchers, together with these from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (NMMNHS), say the invention of a brand new dinosaur subspecies is believed to be a extra primitive and older relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex, reshaping the scientists’ understanding of how and when the beast first arrived in North America.
In a study printed within the journal “Scientific Reports,” the crew identifies a newly discovered subspecies often known as Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis, a predator proven to be older and extra primitive than the T. rex, and simply as massive.
The discovery of a partial cranium discovered years in the past in western New Mexico led to the study, which shows the Tyrannosaurus was in North America tens of millions of years earlier than paleontologists beforehand thought.
“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. Anthony Fiorillo, the manager director of the NMMNHS mentioned. “This study delivers on the mission of this museum through the science-based investigation of the history of life on our planet.”
WHAT WE THOUGHT WE KNEW ABOUT T REX WAS WRONG, RESEARCHERS SAY IN NEW STUDY
A rendering by artist Sergey Krasovkiy of Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis, a newly discovered relative of T. rex. A partial cranium on view on the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science was a key a part of the invention. (Courtesy of NMMNHS / Sergey Krasovkiy)
Along with the NMMNHS, researchers from the University of Bath (UK), University of Utah, George Washington University, Harrisburg University, Penn State Lehigh Valley and the University of Alberta participated within the study.
The museum mentioned in a press launch that the T. rex, which is maybe the most important and most harmful terrestrial predator of all time, “suddenly appeared” in North America about 66 million years in the past.
When it arrived, the press launch famous, there have been no shut family of the T. rex in North America, so the way it arrived and developed there’s a thriller.
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A diagram illustrating the scale of the newly discovered Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis. The tyrannosaur is roughly the identical measurement as its well-known relative T. rex. (Courtesy of NMMNHS)
Co-author Sebastian Daman was a pupil in 2013, when he started to reexamine species collected from southern New Mexico.
“Soon we started to suspect we were onto something new,” he mentioned within the press launch.
What he and different researchers discovered was that T. mcraeensis was about the identical measurement as T. rex and likewise ate meat.
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The jawbone of Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis, a newly discovered relative of T. rex. (Courtesy of NMMNHS)
The analysis additionally confirmed that delicate variations within the jaw bones make it unlikely that T. rex was a direct ancestor, but it surely raises the likelihood that there are extra discoveries to be made about tyrannosaurs.
“Once again, the extent and scientific importance of New Mexico’s dinosaur fossils becomes clear — many new dinosaurs remain to be discovered in the state, both in the rocks and in museum drawers!” Dr. Spencer Lucas, paleontology curator at NMMNHS mentioned.
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The discovery additionally expands the researchers’ understanding of the dinosaur species, suggesting that tyrannosaurus lived in what’s now the southern U.S. at the least 72 million years in the past, and certain originated there earlier than shifting into the western portion of North America.
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