New Mexico
New Species of Giant Tyrannosaur Discovered in New Mexico | Sci.News
The discovery of Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis, a sister species of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, suggests that tyrannosaurid dinosaurs originated on Laramidia, an island continent that existed between 100 and 66 million years ago and stretched from modern-day Alaska to Mexico.
Life reconstruction of Tyrannosaurus mcraeen. Image credit: Sergey Krasovskiy.
“Tyrannosaurid dinosaurs were the dominant predators in North America and Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch,” said Dr. Sebastian Dalman from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and his colleagues.
“Evolving from small-bodied ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous, they became apex predators in the latest Cretaceous, and finally saw the appearance of T. rex.”
“T. rex, characterized by a robust skeleton and powerful, bone-crushing jaws, was the dominant carnivore in the Late Maastrichtian of western North America.”
“Growing to 12 m long and 10 tons in weight, T. rex was the largest terrestrial predator of its time, and perhaps of all time.”
“Where and when Tyrannosaurini (T. rex and kin) originated remains unclear. Competing hypotheses place their origins in Asia, or western North America (Laramidia).”
The newly-identified species, Tyrannosaurus mcraeen, lived in what is now the United States between 71 and 73 million years ago, or between 5 and 7 million years before T. rex.
The dinosaur’s fossilized partial skull was found in the Hall Lake Formation of New Mexico.
Although the specimen was initially assigned to T. rex and was comparable in size to those of T. rex, the paleontologists propose that it belongs to a new species due to the presence of multiple subtle differences in the shape of, and joins between, the skull bones of the specimen and T. rex.
An analysis of the relationships between Tyrannosaurus mcraeen and other theropod dinosaur species indicates that Tyrannosaurus mcraeen may have been a sister species to T. rex, making it the closest known relative of T. rex.
The authors suggest that Tyrannosaurini may have originated in southern Laramidia, an island continent that existed between 100 and 66 million years ago and stretched from modern-day Alaska to Mexico.
Additionally, they propose that Tyrannosaurini may have evolved a giant body size by approximately 72 million years ago, alongside other giant dinosaurs from southern Laramidia such as ceratopsians, hadrosaurs, and titanosaurs.
They speculate that the evolution of giant tyrannosaurins may have been driven by the giant body sizes of herbivores that they preyed on in southern Laramidia.
“Evolution of giant tyrannosaurs in southern North America, alongside giant ceratopsians, hadrosaurs, and titanosaurs suggests large-bodied dinosaurs evolved at low latitudes in North America,” they said.
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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S.G. Dalman et al. 2023. A giant tyrannosaur from the Campanian–Maastrichtian of southern North America and the evolution of tyrannosaurid gigantism. Sci Rep 13, 22124; doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-47011-0
Grant’s Thursday Evening Forecast
Showers and thunderstorms will continue in eastern New Mexico tonight into Friday. Breezy winds will bring an elevated fire danger in the western half of the state.
Thunderstorms are firing up Thursday afternoon along and east of New Mexico’s central mountain chain while gusty south winds over 30 mph are driving an elevated fire danger across western parts of the state. Storms will continue spreading across eastern New Mexico through this evening, bringing locally heavy rainfall, lightning, small hail, and gusty winds. The winds will weaken later tonight, but showers and thunderstorms will keep going across eastern New Mexico overnight into early Friday morning.
A few spotty storms will redevelop Friday afternoon across eastern New Mexico, with a couple near the Texas state line capable of turning strong to severe. At the same time, breezy southwest winds will ramp back up across western New Mexico, with gusts over 35 mph creating another round of elevated fire danger. Storms will push east out of New Mexico Friday evening while winds gradually ease overnight.
Quieter and drier weather takes over this weekend. Temperatures Saturday afternoon will cool a few degrees but still stay near average for late May. Breezy afternoon winds will continue Saturday before lighter winds and warmer temperatures return Sunday.
Moisture will start building back into eastern New Mexico Monday, bringing a slight chance for thunderstorms near the Texas state line. Monday will also be the hottest day of the warming trend statewide. More moisture spreads into the eastern half of the state Tuesday, increasing storm chances along and east of the Rio Grande Valley by afternoon. Even deeper moisture arrives statewide by Wednesday and Thursday, fueling more widespread showers and thunderstorms through the middle of next week.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Skies are partly to mostly clear with most similar or slightly milder than yesterday. Winds are a little breezy occasionally with the highest humidity values mostly from out east and to the north.
Air temperatures in the north are mostly starting off in the 30s to the low 50s. Elsewhere to the south, air temperatures are mostly ranging from around the high 30s to the low 60s.
Many areas from eastern New Mexico to the Pecos River Valley area will range from the high 60s to the 80s from north to south from high to low elevation. The northern higher elevations will mostly range from the high 40s to near 60°, while the northern valley floors to western and central areas will mostly range from the high 70s to the low 90s.
Southerly upper-level winds, in combination to the low-level moisture still lingering around the northern high elevations to out east, will lead to few thunderstorms capable of producing brief bouts of heavy rain, small hail, some lightning, & gusty conditions.
Ridging in the jet stream will then allow for clearer conditions, drier air, and for temperatures to rebound for the remainder of the week. However, slightly more thunderstorms will form for some eastern and mountainous areas late in the week, resulting in outflow-southeasterly winds to occasionally pick up.
Even hotter air returns late this weekend into early next week before thunderstorms are more likely to form next week.
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