The “king of the Cretaceous”, the Tyrannosaurhad an ancestor, the Khankhuuluuspecies just discovered by the paleontologists of University of Calgary (Canada). The “new” dinosaur was identified in particular as the l ‘closest ancestor known to the legendary T-Rex.
The species would have lived about 86 million years agoprobably medium -sized and agile predator, evolved after the extinction of other large predatory dinosaurs.
This new species offers us one Window on the rise phase of the evolution of tyrannosaurs – explains Jared T. Voris, the first author of the research – just when they are going from small predators to their form of a predator at the top of the food chain
Khankhuuluu It is a word of Mongolian origin which means “Prince of the Dragons” or “Prince Drago”. The name indicates its place in the evolutionary line of the tyrannosauri, since Khankhuuluu He was the prince before species like the T-Rex.
Being the closest ancestor known, this species shares many characteristics with its tyrannosaur descendants, although it does not possess some of their most distinctive characteristics, weighing in fact “only” weighed 750 kilograms (about the size of a horse), which made it two to three times smaller than its huge descendants.
Khankhuuluu He also had tiny rudimentary horns that would have evolved to become more evident in particular such as Albertosaurus or Gorgosaurusused to simulate mating or to intimidate, and had a long and shallow skull that shows that the dinosaur did not have the ability to chew bones such as T. Rex. The new species can therefore be defined as a mesopredatorwhich means that it used speed and agility to break down its prey.
The fossils, found in the Bayanshiree training In south-eastern Mongolia, they had already been studied in the 70s of the last century by the paleontologist Altangerel pearlswhich compared the finds to another medium -sized tyrannosaurus, theAlectrosauruscoming from China.
But the studies published now, which began in 2023 with a first trip of the team to Mongolia, show that in reality there are many characteristics that differentiated them from this other species of dinosaur.
Khankhuuluu, or a strictly related species, would have immigrated to North America from Asia about 85 million years ago – explains Darla K. Zelenitsky, who collaborated in research – our study provides solid evidence that the great tyrannosauri evolved for the first time in North America following this immigration event
The results of the study also show that the movements of the tyrannosaurs between Asia and North America were less frequent of what was known previously: in fact the Khankhuuluu It is the last known ancestor of the tyrannosauri found in Asian fossil finds.
The work revealed in particular that the new species, or one of his fellow men, traveled through an earth bridge to North America, where he evolved into the famous predatory tyrannosaurs at the top of the food chain.
And that the tyrannosaurs remained exclusive of North America for a few million years Before immigrating to Asia, where the evolutionary line was divided into two groups, one branched to become even larger top predators, finally evolving in T. Rex, while the other evolved group in a medium sizes with an elongated muzzle (nicknamed ‘Pinocchio Rex‘).
The next step for the researchers will be to study the first ancestors of these summit predators, still little known, with the ultimate goal of finding all the rings of this millennial and fascinating chain.
The work was published on Nature.
Sources: Eurekalert / Nature
