A new Mongolian tyrannosauroid and the evolution of Eutyrannosauria

A new Mongolian tyrannosauroid and the evolution of Eutyrannosauria

Eutyrannosaurians were large predatory dinosaurs that dominated Asian and North American terrestrial faunas in latest Cretaceous times. These apex predators arose from smaller-bodied tyrannosauroids during the ‘middle’ Cretaceous that are poorly known owing to the paucity of fossil material1–3. Here we report on a new tyrannosauroid, Khankhuuluu mongoliensis gen. et sp. nov., from lower Upper Cretaceous deposits of Mongolia that provides a new p…

Khankhuuluu mongoliensis "Prince of Dragons"

A new species of tyrannosauroid described by scientists as a “missing link” sheds new light on the evolution of Late Cretaceous tyrannosaurs.  The dinosaur, named Khankhuuluu mongoliensis represents a transitional form between the small, gracile early tyrannosauroids and the giant, bone-crushing, apex predators such as Daspletosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex.  The large tyrannosaurs from the end of the Cretaceous (Campanian and Maastrichtian) have …

Rewrite A new Mongolian tyrannosauroid and the evolution of Eutyrannosauria

Eutyrannosaurians were large predatory dinosaurs that dominated Asian and North American terrestrial faunas in latest Cretaceous times. These apex predators arose from smaller-bodied tyrannosauroids during the ‘middle’ Cretaceous that are poorly known owing to the paucity of fossil material1,2,3. Here we report on a new tyrannosauroid, Khankhuuluu mongoliensis gen. et sp. nov., from lower Upper Cretaceous deposits of Mongolia that provides a new…