Old Friend, New Name

Well, we've known the existence of dromaeosaurids from the Hell Creek Formation from tooth fragments, but whether Dromaeosaurus lived alongside Tyrannosaurus or not was not proven yet. Not until know. These tooth fragments didn't belong to Dromaeosaurus, but it was for sure a dromaeosaurid.  Now, we finally have conclusive proof, that dromaeosaurids lived alongside the King of Dinosaurs. Meet, Acheroraptor temertyorum, the geologically youngster dromaeosaurid to date. Bizarre thing I realized. Dromaeosaurus is a dromaeosaurinae, (well, duh) but Acheroraptor was a velociraptorinae. This still means that dromaeosaurinae's did not live with the King, but hey, at least we got velociraptorinae's living with him.

So, I think this finally proves the depiction in Walking with Dinosaurs (TV Series) of dromaeosaurids living with Tyrannosaurus. However, instead of the bulky Deinonychus like skull, it had a more Velociraptor like skull, because it was a velociraptorinae.

I should mention, that my obscure species post will be the first of many, and the next ones will feature many new guys, including Zalambdalestes, Acheroraptor, and the unnamed Antarctic Sauropod (which I will identify for namesake as Antarctotitan), and the unnamed Australian spinosaurs (for namesake, Australospinas).

All Hail the King of Gore

And thank you Scott Hartman for inspiring my blog title.

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!

The New Deinocheirus

A pair of sunbathing Deinocheirus. Thanks to Joschua Knuppe for letting me use his artwork for this post.

So, I am going to talk about the new material from Deinocheirus. It has long since been a mystery of what these gigantic arms where attached to, but it's a mystery no more. 

On July 9th, 1965, Polish Paleontologist Professor Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska and her team found a few ribs, some vertebrae, and a massive pair of arms. These arms where over 3 meters long, and they where certainly from a very large theropod. But what kind? Some thought they where from a giant ornithomimosaur, others thought they where from a gigantic flesh eating theropod, that used its massive arms to rip open the stomachs of sauropods. 

What the hell is that?

However, soon a consensus came in. It was thought to be an ornithomimosaur, albeit a very large one. But what the rest of it looked like was only guess work. By studying relatives of it, many came to the conclusion of what it looked like. 

This is what it looked like then. 

Above, you see the picture of the Deinocheirus toy in the CollectA line. It seemed pretty much like a gigantic oversized Gallimimus. Well, it wasn't. 

Finally, after nearly 48 years of mystery, the fog of time has cleared with new fossils. It turns out, Deinocheirus was weirder than anyone could have imagined. It had a sail on its back! And it had a robust look, not normal for the usually gracile smooth backed ornithomimosaurs. The most incredible thing for me is the sail. It is something that I never thought would come out from the ground. A sailed-backed coelurosaur? 

All known sail backed dinosaurs (Spinosaurus, Ouranosaurus, ect.) have all been non-coelurosaurs. This makes Deinocheirus the first known Coelurosaur with a sail on its back. A skull was also found in the new remains, but unluckily, poachers stole the skull. Lets hope that we can either retrieve that stolen skull, or find a new one, and maybe it's skull would fit the new bizarre look of Deinocheirus. 

Overall, this is one of most exciting finds in my so far short lifetime, solving a nearly 50 year-old mystery. However, with the skull still missing, its complete appearance is still a mystery, and so the hunt for the mystery dinosaur, continues. 

I would like to thank Joschua Knuppe again, for letting me use his Deinocheirus restoration for this article. And, for the readers, have a great day!