T-Rex’s older sister discovered it

In the US state of New Mexico, researchers have discovered what is currently the best-known relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex (popularly known as “T-Rex”). The newly discovered species was named Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis – He is also a predatory dinosaur. It lived 72 million years ago, five to seven million years before the T-Rex. The two closely related species were similar in size, the researchers wrote in their study. They probably looked alike too.

Parts of a large predatory dinosaur skull were found some time ago in New Mexico. Initially these were assigned to a Tyrannosaurus rex. But researchers led by Sebastian Dalman of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science suspect it is a separate species. There are minor differences in anatomy compared to known T-Rex finds. Analyzes of the surrounding sediment should also show that the rock layer with an age of 71 to 73 million years does not correspond to the T-Rex, because it only lived five to seven million years later.

Genetic analyzes showed that Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis could certainly be called the sister of Tyrannosaurus rex, Dalman and his team said in their study. The newly discovered species must the most famous relative of the T-Rex be – the two species have the same (yet unknown) ancestor.

It is not yet clear where the Tyrannosauridae family, to which both the T-Rex and the newly discovered species belong, comes from: Some paleontologists assume they originated in Asia, others in North America. But then it looked different; Researchers speak of Laramidia, an elongated island continent that stretched from present-day Alaska to present-day Mexico during the Cretaceous. The new find could help clarify the question of the origin of the Tyrannosauridae, writes Scinexx.

Dalman and his team see the origin of the Tyrannosauridae in southern Laramidia based on the latest findings.

(rbu)