Although its life span is short, the newborn is as long as Andre from beginning to end. The giant is very tall (compared with its parents, it is very small) and is making waves today. A new analysis of its fossils shows that it is the smallest Tyrannosaurus rex ever-a terrible marine reptile that lived in the dinosaur era-a canglong.
But it took researchers years and careful investigation to determine that this creature was Tyrone. According to a new research report, paleontologists identified this animal by examining tiny fragments of its nose, skull and palate, which is the only fossil they can find. [Tyrannosaurus Ocean: Mossa Gallery]
199 1 year, researchers found the remains of this little crocodile in the chalk layer of a smoky hill in western Kansas. At that time, they thought it was plateau carp. Takuya Konishi, head of the research, said that this medium-sized Mosuo monkey has a short and round nose and can grow to nearly 20 feet (6 meters) long.
However, the new analysis shows that these remains belong to a larger genus: the dragon snake dragon, an assistant professor and educator in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. This Mosalon monster can grow to 42 feet (13 meters) long, almost as long as a semi-trailer.
This is an example of an adult Tyrone. Xiaoxi made a paper on Platecarpus, so he knew the anatomy of these wild animals like the back of his hand. Other clues show that Baby Baby is Tyrone, one of the largest Mossad people swimming in the inland sea in the west-a huge waterway covering most parts of the Midwest and South of the United States, from about 654.38 billion years ago to about 75 million years ago, Xiaoxi told Live Science.
The biggest clue is the newborn's nose. Tyrone is famous for its long mouth (at least among paleontologists). Except the tip of its mouth, it is covered with sharp teeth. Xiaoxi said that Tyrone might use this long toothless tip as an impact hammer to shock and hurt its prey, just like killer whales today.
Tyrone is famous for its long nose (beak) and no teeth at the top. Strangely, the newborn Tyrone (right) hardly has this feature. Unlike the young Tyrone (left), it has a well-developed nose and no teeth near the tip. (Historical Biology) However, there is no conical tip without teeth on the nose of the little Mosha monkey. In-depth analysis shows that this creature has a small toothless part on its nose. Koenig said that this shows that Tyrone was not born with a conical nose, but grew up between infancy and adolescence.
In addition, the newborn's skull looks like a Tyrone, as do the animal's slender teeth and the spacing and pattern of teeth. Xiaoxi said that its square bone is a question mark-shaped bone at the back of the mandible, which supports the mandibular joint and is nearly 4 feet (1.2 meters) long.
Compared with the newborn skull (gray illustration), this fully formed Tyrone skull (below) is very huge. The white line shows the corresponding part of each skull. (Historical Biology) When a baby is born, its skull is about 1 foot (30 cm), and its whole body is about 7.2 feet (2.2 meters), which is about one sixth of that of an adult. Canglong gave birth to live cubs (referring to these reptiles, not dinosaurs) rs, and the baby's size shows that it will not live long.
"I think it came out. Miraculously, it was preserved and then discovered, "Xiaoxi said.
Despite in-depth analysis, Xiaoxi and his colleagues are still unable to determine the species of the baby. Xiaoxi said that since then, there have been two kinds of Tyrannosaurus rex T.nepaeolicus and Tyrannosaurus proriger known in this area-but there are no more developed body parts, and anyone can guess which species the baby belongs to.
This study will be published online in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology on Friday (65438+ 101).
Originally published in Life Science.