Zhuchengtyrannus magnus – A fearsome Chinese Tyrannosaurus

It may have been a little awkward, after all, with the press releases about the discovery of a new member of the tyrannosaur clade (Zhuchengtyrannus magnus), one that may rival the likes of Tarbosaurus bataar and Tyrannosaurus rex in terms of size on the eve of April Fool’s Day, but the good news is the ever growing family of Tyrannosauridae has definitely got a new member, and who knows, perhaps a second one is on the way.

The trouble is, if there is a press release sent out about dinosaurs at the end of March, some parts of the media automatically query it as they regard such information as a potential April Fool story.  There are a number of bogus articles doing the rounds, we know, we have been asked to comment on a few and indeed, aid in the preparation of one (sauropod femurs turning up on the coast of Cumbria).

However, amongst an extensive hadrosaur bone-bed an international team of dedicated palaeontologists have literally pieced together the evidence to indicate that there was at least one giant tyrannosaur theropod roaming the Shandong province of China in the Late Cretaceous and what a fearsome beast Zhuchengtyrannus may turn out to be.

An Illustration of Zhuchengtyrannus magnus

Picture credit: Robert Nicholls

Zhuchengtyrannus magnus

With the information being published in the scientific journal “Cretaceous Research” we can reveal that based on measurements made of the fragmentary elements of the skull material found, it seems that this particular tyrannosaur may have measured as much as 11 metres long with a body weight tipping the scales at around six tonnes.

Dr David Hone from University College (Dublin), the palaeontologist given the job of naming this ferocious predator and the scientist who led the research team that has worked on the fossilised bones stated:

“There is no doubt that Zhuchengtyrannus was a huge Tyrannosaurine.”

More information on this remarkable discovery, we think only the second really big tyrannosaur to be discovered in this region of China, can be found on David’s excellent and highly informative web log – Archosaur Musings.

Doctor Hone went on to comment:

“With only some skull and jaw bones to work with, it is difficult to precisely gauge the overall size of this animal.  But the bones we have are just a few centimetres smaller than the equivalent ones in the largest T. rex specimen.”

The binomial name for this new member of what is a rapidly expanding clade of the dinosaur family tree is Zhuchengtyrannus magnus. The name means “Tyrant from Zhucheng city”, as the fossils were found in the city of Zhucheng – a part of the world gaining a reputation as a “hot spot” for dinosaur fossils.

This is the first dinosaur that Dr Hone has named (as a first author) and although the lack of fossil material prevents the scientist from making more definite calculations as to the size of this tyrannosaur; from the dentary (lower jaw bone) and the maxilla (upper jaw bone), it is clear that this dinosaur was very, very big.  The species element of the binomial name reflects the large size of this dinosaur.

Zhucheng is a relatively small town and has already been recognised in recent years for the great vertebrate fossil potential the area has.  A number of new dinosaurs have been discovered in this area, this new tyrannosaur is just the latest of a whole range of important discoveries that have been made by palaeontologists.  It seems that much of the strata in the area may represent flood deposits where a large number of corpses have been washed up together forming extensive bone-beds.  The material ascribed to Zhuchengtyrannus (pronounced “zoo-cheng-tie-ran-us”) was found in a hadrosaur bone-bed deposit.

A Scale Drawing of the Newly Described Tyrannosaur Zhuchengtyrannus magnus

Everything Dinosaur’s scale drawing of the giant, Late Cretaceous Asian tyrannosaur Zhuchengtyrannus magnus. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Tyrannosaur maxillae are important bones as they help distinguish different genera, the different taxonomic characters can be determined by careful study of certain parts of the fossil skeleton and the maxilla and other parts of the skull are key bones in helping researchers to determine whether or not they have discovered a new genus.

To view models and replicas of Chinese dinosaurs including Zhuchengtyrannus (whilst stocks last): PNSO Age of Dinosaurs Models.

Importantly, what fossil material that has been found is in excellent condition and measurements taken of the dentary show that this new tyrannosaur would probably only have been slightly smaller than its Chinese cousin Tarbosaurus (Tarbosaurus bataar) and also not quite the size of the largest specimen of Tyrannosaurus rex known to science.  But this new discovery suggests that there are other super-sized, apex predators in the tyrannosaur family.

Dr Hone comments:

“Zhuchengtyrannus is basically just another giant Tyrannosaurine in the mould of these two more famous giants [T. rex and Tarbosaurus].“

Remarkably, the site where the fossils of Zhuchengtyrannus were found may yield many other discoveries, including another giant tyrannosaur.  The research team excavated a number of teeth and postcranial elements including vertebrae, femora and various metatarsals (backbones, thigh bones and toe bones).  Importantly they found another maxilla and another dentary, neither of which match the material ascribed to Zhuchengtyrannus magnus or other known tyrannosaurs. This suggests that there may be at least one other tyrannosaur at the dig site awaiting further analysis.

However, if there is another taxon present, then this will complicate matters for the palaeontologists.  Imagine trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle, without knowing for sure how many pieces you have or indeed the precise identity of what you are trying to create.  Then imagine the added complication of having to try to put together two similar but definitely different jigsaws, with all the known pieces you have jumbled up together, each one having no illustration to guide you, and you still do not know how many pieces of each you have to work with – tricky.

The potential to find another taxon is covered in the scientific paper, but for the time being just one new taxon has been named and described.  Expect to hear a lot more about the bone-beds of Shandong Province and the amazing dinosaur fossils that await discovery.

Our congratulations to Doctor David Hone and his colleagues for their work.

Sauropod Bone Discovered on Cumbrian Coast

From time to time, amazing fossils and other objects are discovered on the shoreline of various parts of the United Kingdom.  It seems that prehistoric animal remains are not just found on the Jurassic coast of southern England as this press release from the Beacon Museum, Whitehaven in Cumbria explains.

Dinosaur Bone

A suspected dinosaur bone has been found on Whitehaven Beach by a dog walker. The small dog thought he had gone to heaven. Dog walker Pamela Martin said:

 “I heard my dog bark and he was digging at something. I couldn’t believe what ‘Snoot’ had dug up.  I said ‘You’re not taking that home with you!’’.

The eight foot long thigh bone has been identified from photographs by expert palaeontologist Dr David Gelsthorpe from Manchester Museum as perhaps a Cetiosauriscus, long-necked dinosaur.

One of the Beacon Museum Staff with the Dinosaur Bone

Picture credit: Beacon Museum (Whitehaven)

The picture shows one of the museum staff, brushing away some of the surrounding material from the dinosaur bone.  From the size of the specimen our experts would suggest that it represents a bone from the hind limb, the thigh bone (femur).  A close examination of the sediment surrounding the fossil shows a number of footprint impressions left in the sand, clearly such a fossil find has attracted the attention of a number of leading scientists already – or is that evidence of dinoturbation that we can see?

The Beacon’s Curator, Charlotte Stead said:

“This fantastic find throws another angle to Copeland’s rich history”.

The bone has been discovered in good time to promote the Beacon’s summer blockbuster exhibition ‘BBC Walking With Dinosaurs’, which opens to the public from 11th June to 4th September.

An Illustration of the Long-necked Dinosaur Cetiosauriscus

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dr David Gelsthorpe, Curator of Earth Sciences at The Manchester Museum said,

“This is a fantastic discovery and all the more amazing because it was found in Cumbria. This Jurassic giant grew up to 15 metres long and would have roamed Cumbria around 175 million years ago. It is a truly astonishing find and is the furthest north Cetiosauriscus has ever been discovered. Cumbria is the place to watch for internationally important dinosaur discoveries”.

This is not the first time, a fossil bone from a Cetiosauriscus has been found in the United Kingdom.  In 2009, a fossilised femur ascribed to this particular long-necked, Jurassic herbivore was discovered in Gloucestershire.

To read more about that discovery: Cetiosauriscus Leg Bone Found in Gloucestershire Quarry.

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented that today’s discovery made April 1st a day to remember in the long history of dinosaur discoveries in the United Kingdom.

And a happy April Fool’s Day from everyone at The Beacon, Whitehaven!

For serious prehistoric animal models and replicas: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.

New Spinosaurus from South America Described – A Rival to T. rex

A team of scientists have just published a scientific description of a new genus of giant spinosaurid dinosaur, perhaps one that rivalled Tyrannosaurus rex in terms of its size.  The palaeontologists have provided a fascinating insight into the ancient Cretaceous ecosystem of Brazil, one that may have been dominated by this giant predator.

Giant Spinosaurid Dinosaur

The spinosaurids have only really come to the attention of the wider public, thanks to the appearance of a giant Spinosaurus in the film – Jurassic Park III, a movie which required a new angle on the Tyrannosaurus rex being the big baddie, as T. rex had been the main dinosaur star in the first two films in the J.P. franchise.  Known from the early 20th Century, thanks to Stromer’s expeditions to North Africa, the spinosaurids represent an unusual off-shoot of the Theropoda clade.  Carnivores, perhaps specialist piscivores (fish-eaters), these bipedal dinosaurs had long, narrow snouts, superficially similar to the jaws of crocodiles.

The teeth were straight and sharp, lacking the curvature of a tyrannosaurid, dromaeosaurid or allosaurid teeth.  The teeth on the lower jaw were numerous and relatively small, the tip of the upper jaw (premaxilla) held a separate rosette of of much larger teeth, the upper jaw had a distinctive “kink” and the nostrils were positioned well back from the tip of the snout.  These may have been adaptations to permit these predators to catch fish. The narrow snouts would have entered the water, the small teeth could catch a slippery fish, and the nostrils would still be held clear of the water.

However, many members of the spinosaur family, including this new genus described in the scientific journal “The Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences”, were also most probably apex predators hunting and killing other dinosaurs as well as crocodiles and other creatures that shared their watery world.

This new Spinosaurus has been named Oxalaia quilombensis.  It becomes the newest member of the bizarre Spinosaurus family and with scientists estimating that it could have reached lengths in excess of 14 metres and weighed as much as 7 tonnes, it rivals the more famous T. rex in terms of size.

An Illustration of O. quilombensis

Picture credit: Brazilian National Museum/Elaine Machado.

The artist has depicted this new spinosaur with a sail-like structure running along the back, a feature found in other members of this dinosaur family.  There is no fossil evidence to suggest that this particular spinosaur had a sail.

The fragmentary fossils including the tip of the upper jaw, so characteristic of other known spinosaur material were found in the Alcantara Formation on Cajual island which is part of north-eastern Brazil’s Maranhao state.  The fossils have been dated to around 98 to 95 million years ago (Cenemanian faunal stage) and the scientists who have been studying this new dinosaur have stated that this new discovery is important as it helps to establish the ancestral line of this geographically dispersed group of theropods.

Alexander Kellner, a Brazilian palaeontologist and one of the researchers who has studied the fossils, stated that this new dinosaur from Brazil, although known from only fragmentary material seems to have a closer affinity to African spinosaurs than to other spinosaurids known from South America.  This similarity suggests that the ancestors of the African and Brazilian genera came from the same area before the African and South American continents split as part of the Atlantic ridge formation, sometime between 130 and 110 million years ago.

The Characteristic Snout Tip of a Spinosaur – Oxalaia quilombensis

Evidence of Giant Spinosaur?

Picture credit: Kellner et al.

The picture shows the tip of the upper jaw of Oxalaia quilombensis, this the view from underneath (ventral view), the holes along the sides are sockets for teeth.  The end of the jaw is to the right of the picture.

The Brazilian scientists hope to be able to find more fossil material from the site, but they have been hampered by the problem of fossil material being rapidly eroded and destroyed once it is exposed.  The fossils found so far, are being stored at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro’s National Museum.

It seems that this particular theropod had two rows of extra teeth on both sides of its mouth, suggesting that it could replace worn or broken teeth.  Just like in many other theropods and sharks, as one tooth was lost another was waiting to erupt through the gum line as a replacement.  This ensured that these dinosaurs always had a toothy grin, just what is needed when you are an active hunter.

Unfortunately, no limb bones have been found, so this new specimen is unable to add to the debate over whether these large predators were entirely bipedal or facultative quadrupeds (able to walk on all fours if the need arose).  The limb proportions of some spinosaurs indicate that their arms were much longer than other large theropods, much larger than tyrannosaurs, allosaurs and abelisaurids.  This has led to some interesting and very different interpretations of spinosaurs from model makers – from the graceful and delicate features of the Safari Carnegie Spinosaurus model to the more robust models made by Schleich and CollectA.

To view Everything Dinosaur’s selection of scale Spinosaurus models and other spinosaurids, take a look at this section of the Everything Dinosaur website: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Life Models.

The scientific paper: “A new dinosaur (Theropoda, Spinosauridae) from the Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Alcântara Formation, Cajual Island, Brazil” by Alexander W. A. Kellner, Sergio A. K. Azevedo, Elaine B. Machado, Luciana B. De Carvalho and Deise D. R. Henriques published in the Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.