First Ever Southern Tyrannosaur Dinosaur Discovered

marco_polo

A new find in Australia has uncovered the first evidence of the existance of members of the genus Tyrannosaus in the southern continents. Ultimately it is hoped that this will shed some more light on the evolution of these fearsome predators.

The name needs work methinks, "NMV P186069" just doesn't cut the mustard.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100325143045.htm

This is an exciting discovery because tyrannosaur fossils had only ever been found in the northern hemisphere before and some scientists thought tyrannosaurs never made it down south.

"Although we only have one bone, it shows that 110 million years ago small tyrannosaurs like ours might have been found worldwide. This find has major significance for our knowledge of how this group of dinosaurs evolved." says Dr Benson.

Dr Paul Barrett, Palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum, London and member of the research team commented: "The absence of tyrannosauroids from the southern continents was becoming more and more anomalous as representatives of other 'northern' dinosaur groups started to show up in the south. This find shows that tyrannosauroids were able to reach these areas early in their evolutionary history and also hints at the possibility that others remain to be discovered in Africa, South America and India."

The bone would have come from an animal about three metres long and weighing around 80 kg, similar to a human, and would have had the large head and small arms that make tyrannosaurs so distinctive.

The newly identified dinosaur, known as NMV P186069, was much smaller than T. rex, which was 12 metres long and weighed around four tonnes. Giant size like this only evolved late in the tyrannosaur lineage.

Scientific American also cover the story.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=new-australian-dinosaur-fossil-show-2010-03-25

Galvasean

Hmmm I seem to recall ages ago I pointed out what I thought were tyrannosaur footprints in Australia. They all said I was mad, MAD I TELLS YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Must see if I can find a source...