Yes,, Lythronax has been all the rage lately. Not only does it have importance in tyrannosaur evolution, its name is also insanely awesome. King of gore? Look out Tyrannosaurus!
In 2009, in the Wahweap Formation, the first fossils of Lythronax where found. It consisted of a partial skeleton, including a skull, which is also terrifying. It had good vision, with depth perception, and a massively powerful bite you do not want to be given if you piss it off. Its teeth are quite beefy, with a serrated edge like that of a steak knife. Clearly, this animal could not only slice through meat, muscle, and tissue, but also could crush bone.
Which makes me raise an question that I haven't seen (or noticed) yet. Will someone turn this around and say that because its teeth could crush bone it was a scavenger? I bet you someone has, but I haven't noticed it yet. Bone crunching teeth isn't really a sign of a scavenger, because while hyenas crush bone, they will also hunt in packs and take down a wildebeest. However, whether it was a scavenger or not, when it ate, guts would be spilling all over the place.
Another interesting thing about Lythronax, is that it is currently the oldest known tyrannosaurinae, dating to about 80 to 79 million years old. So, it seems that bone crunching gore lovers where present before the reign of Tyrannosaurus, which isn't that surprising.
I have also noticed that some articles on this animal say it was feathered. While it is not unreasonable to be feathered (I think it is feathered) I couldn't find any evidence to suggest it was feathered. While it is likely to be feathered, there is still no feathers, and I consider this misleading.
Teratophoneus crashes Lythronax's birthday party. Thanks to Julio Lacerda for letting me use this picture for this post.
In other tyrant news, more Teratophoneus material was found. Apparently the skull is a little, narrower, and also is certified as the most terrifying predator, as its tearing out intestines from its hapless, unnamed victim. Oh, wait, Lythronax is supposed too.... never mind me.
So, you get a post about two tyrannosaurs, Teratophoneus and Lythronax, for the price one! Have a bloody good day!
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