Discovery of the Dragon Prince: ancestor of the T. rex in Mongolia!

Discovery of the Dragon Prince: ancestor of the T. rex in Mongolia!

In an exciting new find, an international research group has discovered the dinosaur speciesKhankhuuluu mongoliensisdiscovered, which is considered a direct ancestor of the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex. A study published in the renowned journal Nature, draws attention to this significant find that sheds light on the evolution of tyrannosaurs.

Khankhuuluu mongoliensis, whose name means “Dragon Prince of Mongolia,” was about 4 meters long and weighed an estimated 0.75 tons. This dinosaur was comparable to a large horse. The bone finds were originally discovered in southeastern Mongolia in the 1970s and were stored at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in Ulan Bator. The fossils were initially identified as Alectrosaurus.

Evolutionary history of tyrannosaurs

The discovery by graduate student Jared Voris during a research trip sets an important point in clarifying the family tree of tyrannosaurs, particularly in relation to the origin and distribution of the species. The research provided evidence that Khankhuuluu probably migrated from Asia to North America across a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, where tyrannosaurs continued to spread.

What's particularly telling is that Khankhuuluu is larger than some of the early Jurassic and Early Cretaceous tyrannosaurs and is categorized as "medium-sized." This species is considered to be a link between early ancestral tyrannosaurs and the Late Cretaceous eutyrannosaurs, providing clear evidence of the evolutionary changes and growth patterns within tyrannosaur pairs.

Biogeographical insights

The results suggest that the direct ancestor of eutyrannosaurs originated in Asia and spread across North America during the Middle to Late Cretaceous. Within 15 million years, both distinct and diverse species, differing in their morphology and habitat, settled in North America.

While some of these tyrannosaurs returned to Asia around 78 million years ago and split into two groups - the Alioramini and the Tyrannosaurini - specific differences in body structure and size developed. These distinctions resulted from different growth patterns; the Tyrannosaurini became efficient super hunters, while the Alioramini remained in a juvenile blueprint.

The returning Tyrannosaurini ultimately led to the emergence of Tyrannosaurus rex, whose development probably would not have been possible without ancestors such as Khankhuuluu mongoliensis. These findings expand our understanding of the evolutionary history of tyrannosaurs and their adaptation strategies over millions of years.