Tyrannosaurus Redux: T. Rex Was More Than Just a Large Carnivore at Top of Food Chain

marco_polo

With impeccible timing, an interesting article on the subject of T.Rex Evolution appears.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100916145131.htm

The Science paper combines a new analysis of tyrannosaur phylogenetics, or their genealogy, with a review of recent research into their biology. After scoring 19 well-documented tyrannosaur fossils for over 300 different traits, the researchers developed the most comprehensive evolutionary tree of this group to date. This essentially redefined tyrannosaurs, at least when compared to the popular perception of them as large meat-eaters. Tyrannosaurs have a long evolutionary history of which the largest, T. rex, Albertosaurus, and Tarbosaurus, represent species that were ecologically dominant only during the Late Cretaceous in Asia and North America. Earlier tyrannosaurs, on the other hand, lived up to 100 million years before the large apex (top) predators, which were often small in size (some one-one hundredth of the size of T. rex and akin to a lynx in body mass), and lived all over the world

Galvasean

Just trying to establish how many tyrannosaur genera are known (a brief census if you will).

Proceratosaurus - mid Jurassic - UK
Iliosuchus? - mid Jurassic -UK
Kileskus - mid Jurassic -Russia
Guanlong - late Jurassic - China
Aviatyrannis - late Jurassic - Portugal
Coelurus? - late Jurassic - North America
Tanycolagreus? - late Jurassic - North America
Stokesosaurus - late Jurassic - North America/UK
Dilong - early Cretaceous - China
Xiongguanlong - early Cretaceous - China
Sinotyrannus - early Cretaceous - China
Raptorex - early Creataceous - China
Eotyrannus - early Cretaceous - UK
Bagaraatan? - late Creataceous - Mongolia
Labocania? - late Cretaceous - Mexico
Dryptosaurus - late Cretaceous - North America
Appalachiosaurus - late Cretaceous - North America
Alectrosaurus - late Cretaceous - Mongolia
Bistahieversor - late Cretaceous - North America
Daspletosaurus - late Cretaceous - North America
Gorgosaurus* - late cretaceous - North America
Albertosaurus - late Cretaceous - North America
Alioramus - late Cretaceous - Asia
Tarbosaurus - late Cretaceous - Asia
Nanotyrannus* - late Creataceous - North America
Tyrannosaurus - late creataceous - North America

? indicate possible tyrannosaurs
* indicate heavily disputed genera

Wow, I had no idea there were so many. I'll have to do some more research to get myself up to date.
For the record, I have not included tyrannosaurs identified exclusively by tooth frgaments from areas where other more defined tyrannosaurs lived, as these are almost certainly nomen dubium.

Galvasean

Just trying to establish how many tyrannosaur genera are known (a brief census if you will).

Proceratosaurus - mid Jurassic - UK - 10 ft
Iliosuchus? - mid Jurassic -UK - 5 ft
Kileskus - mid Jurassic -Russia - 10 ft
Guanlong - late Jurassic - China - 10 ft
Aviatyrannis - late Jurassic - Portugal - 9 ft
Coelurus? - late Jurassic - North America - 8 ft
Tanycolagreus? - late Jurassic - North America - 13 ft
Stokesosaurus - late Jurassic - North America/UK - 12 ft
Dilong - early Cretaceous - China - 5 ft
Xiongguanlong - early Cretaceous - China - 10 ft
Sinotyrannus - early Cretaceous - China - 33 ft
Raptorex - early Creataceous - China - 10 ft
Not Yet Named - early Cretaceous - Australia -10 ft
Eotyrannus - early Cretaceous - UK - 13 ft
Bagaraatan? - late Creataceous - Mongolia - 12 ft
Labocania? - late Cretaceous - Mexico - 20 ft
Dryptosaurus - late Cretaceous - North America - 20 ft
Appalachiosaurus - late Cretaceous - North America - 24 ft
Alectrosaurus - late Cretaceous - Mongolia - 17 ft
Bistahieversor - late Cretaceous - North America - 30 ft
Daspletosaurus - late Cretaceous - North America - 30 ft
Gorgosaurus* - late Cretaceous - North America - 30 ft
Albertosaurus - late Cretaceous - North America - 26 ft
Alioramus - late Cretaceous - Asia - 18 ft
Tarbosaurus - late Cretaceous - Asia - 40 ft
Nanotyrannus* - late Creataceous - North America -17 ft
Tyrannosaurus - late creataceous - North America - 42 ft

? indicate possible tyrannosaurs
* indicate heavily disputed genera

Wow, I had no idea there were so many. I'll have to do some more research to get myself up to date.
For the record, I have not included tyrannosaurs identified exclusively by tooth frgaments from areas where other more defined tyrannosaurs lived, as these are almost certainly nomen dubium.

Galvasean

Just edited in the approximate lenghts (in feet) of the various tyrannosaurs.

Galvasean

Scientific American have a rather good slideshow of lesser known tyrannosaurs.