A nearly 0.5-meter long skull and several other fossilized bone fragments of a unique dinosaur have been unearthed in Jiangxi Province, China.
According to Sci-News, the newly discovered dinosaur species has been named Asiatyrannus xui, which lived in the southeastern region of China around 69 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period.
This new species is a member of Tyrannosaurinae, one of the two extinct subfamilies of Tyrannosauridae, the earliest group within the Tyrannosauroidea superfamily.
The most famous representative of the Tyrannosaurinae subfamily is the Tyrannosaurus rex (T-rex).
The newly unearthed monster in China is a relative of the T-rex – (AI Image: Anh Thư).
The newly identified relative of the T-rex was excavated from the Nanxiong Formation in Shahe Town, Gan Zhou City, Jiangxi Province, China.
The discovery was completely unexpected, occurring when construction in the area exposed fossilized remains.
The fossils found include a nearly complete skull measuring up to 47.5 cm in length and several other bone fragments, sufficient for scientists to identify its lineage and reconstruct the terrifying appearance of this creature.
Some bone fragments found – (Image: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS).
Publishing their findings in the scientific journal Scientific Reports, the research team led by Dr. Wenjie Zheng from the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History (China) stated that this dinosaur, while alive, was likely to have a body length of up to 3.5-4 meters.
Although large, it is still only half the size of its relative Qianzhousaurus, which was previously discovered in China, as well as many other contemporary tyrannosaurs.
Even Qianzhousaurus is considered a medium-sized tyrannosaur, so despite Asiatyrannus xui reaching lengths of 4 meters, it is regarded as a small to medium-sized member within this lineage.
However, the size of the creature is good news for researchers, as it represents the “missing” type of monster in the fossil record they have long been searching for.
“Asiatyrannus and Qianzhousaurus have different skull proportions and body sizes, suggesting that they may occupy different ecological niches“ – Dr. Zheng explains.
In the Campano-Maastrichtian region of Eastern/Central Asia and Laramidia, large predatory dinosaur groups were dominated by tyrannosaurs, while medium-sized adult predators were very rare or not found at all.
Therefore, this new species may serve as a good representative of the missing medium-sized carnivorous group, occupying the ecological niche between gigantic dinosaurs and small, agile species. It has helped to complete the picture of the ecosystem in the late Cretaceous period.
