Paleontologists have discovered the fossil of a deep-snouted tyrannosaur dinosaur. Asiatyrannus shui Southeast China.
Fossil remains Asiatyrannus shuiThe first deep-snouted tyrannosaur discovered in Ganzhou, southeastern China. Image courtesy of Zheng others., doi:10.1038/s41598-024-66278-5.
Asiatyrannus shui It lived on Earth during the Late Cretaceous period, about 69 million years ago.
This new species is TyrannosaurinaeIt is one of two extinct subfamilies. Tyrannosauridae — The most derived group of the superfamily Tyrannosauroidea.
“Tyrannosauroidea are the most distinctive, best known and most intensively studied group of dinosaurs, represented by around 30 species,” said Dr Wenjie Chen from the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History and colleagues.
“The oldest tyrannosaurs appeared in the Middle Jurassic period, about 165 million years ago.”
“They emerged as apex predators in their respective ecosystems in Asia and western North America during the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous period.”
“The large body size and deep snout are characteristic of ecologically dominant Late Cretaceous tyrannosaurids.”
Asiatyrannus shui It is a small to medium-sized tyrannosaurine dinosaur with a skull length of 47.5 cm (18.7 in) and an estimated total length of 3.5 to 4 m (11.5 to 13.1 ft).
“The new species, Kienzosaurus “Other large tyrannosaurine dinosaurs at similar developmental stages have been discovered,” the paleontologists noted.
In September 2017, a nearly complete skull and a partially detached postcranial skeleton of a new species of dinosaur were discovered at a construction site in the Nanxiong Formation in Shahe Town, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, China.
“Asiatic Tyrannus and Kienzosaurus “Different skull proportions and body sizes suggest that they may have occupied different ecological niches,” the researchers say.
“In the Campano-Maastrichtian of East/Central Asia and Laramidia, the large carnivore guild was dominated by tyrannosaurids, and adult medium-sized predators were rare or absent.”
“The scientists interpreted that the ‘missing intermediate-sized’ niche in the theropod guilds of Laramidia and Asia during the Late Cretaceous may have been assimilated by juvenile and subadult tyrannosaurids.”
“In southeastern China, Kienzosaurus It undoubtedly held the position of apex predator, Asiatic Tyrannus May represent a niche for small to medium-sized theropods between large and small theropods. Kienzosaurus and a diversified set of small oviraptorosaurs.”
of Investigation result Published in this week’s journal Scientific Reports.
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W. Zheng others2024. The first deep-snouted tyrannosaur from the Late Cretaceous, discovered in Ganzhou, southeastern China. Scientific Reports 14, 16276; doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-66278-5
Source: www.sci.news
