New tyrannosauroid from New Mexico

[Abstraktum]

A mid-Cretaceous tyrannosauroid and the origin of North American end-Cretaceous dinosaur assemblages

 

New species named Suskityrannus hazelae

 

[...]The North American fossil record of dinosaurs from approximately 90 million years ago (Late Cretaceous) is one of the most poorly sampled and least understood times of the Cretaceous Period. The new dinosaur, named Suskityrannus hazelae, is from a dinosaur assemblage that documents this critical interval. Suskityrannus is one of the last smaller tyrannosauroids, which at 9 feet long would have likely weighed less than 100 pounds and stood only about 3 feet at the hip. It is also one of the most complete skeletons of any non-tyrannosaurid from North America – all of the older fossil occurrences consist of teeth, isolated bones, or a partially associated skeleton.[...]

 

News: CLICK

 

Scientific Paper [paywall]: CLICK

 

Always nice to see new discoveries regarding tyrannosaurids  

[Troodon]

Fossils of a new tyrannosaur species, dubbed Suskityrannus hazelae, were announced today it lived around 90 million years ago in North America

 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2201735-weve-found-the-medium-sized-tyrannosaurs-that-came-before-t-rex/

 

https://www.haaretz.com/science-and-health/.premium.MAGAZINE-mini-tyrannosaur-struck-fear-into-hearts-of-jurassic-proto-rabbits-everywhere-1.7209920

 

Paper

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-019-0888-0

[Troodon]

Jaw compared to Mr. Trex

 

Described elements

[DPS Ammonite]

MI was scooped on the story since I was at the news conference announcing the finds at the Arizona Museum of Natural History in Mesa, Arizona. https://arizonamuseumofnaturalhistory/

 

See video from museum volunteer, Bill Ludlow: 

 

The lead author, Sterling Nesbitt, found the best preserved pieces of the dinosaur twenty years ago as a high school student during a dig that the Southwest Paleontology Society helped with. 

 

Suskityrannus hazelae, AKA Hazel’s Coyote Tyrant, was named for the wife, Hazel, of the author, Douglas G. Wolfe. Suski cames from the Zuni word for Coyote, the trickster, since the dinosaur was found in the Zuni Basin. The authors even asked the Zuni tribe for permission to use a Zuni word in the name. No unethical cultural appropriated occurred. 

 

First photo: Douglas G. and Hazel Wolfe and their son Chris next to a model of the new dinosaur. The Wolf’s run the Zuni Dinosaur Institute, a charitable paleontological and educational organization. https://www.whitemountaindino.com/

 

The second photo is the creator of the dinosaur model, Benji Paysnoe.

 

Third photo: model skeleton (gray) of the dinosaur in the museum.

 

Fourth photo: informational label for the dinosaur skeleton.

 

Fifth photo: the model maker said that after trying to add protofeathers one by one, they decided to just use fake fur.

 

Last photo: up close and personal.

[DD1991]

This is the dinosaur that was dubbed "Zunityrannus" in an episode of the BBC series Dino Planet. Like Moros intrepidus, Suskityrannus shows that the mid-Cretaceous tyrannosaurs from North America were small in size.

[Scylla]

Cool. I heard a new dinosaur was going to be announced today, this is a good one!

[Jaimin013]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/trex-dinosaur-species-tyrannosaur-suskityrannus-fossil-discovered-a8901556.html?fbclid=IwAR2aPh9WKKjpNX8z8V6DhqZ15x8MzNhnGi7oB4dUuqv31x_RnNLE-M2tpyY