Important Facts For Prelims
Dinosaur Fossil -Thanatotheristes
- 12 Feb 2020
- 1 min read
Why in News
The scientists have revealed that a dinosaur fossil, found in Alberta in Canada (2010), belongs to a new species of tyrannosaur.
- The new species has been named ‘Thanatotheristes degrootorum’ (means “reaper of death”).
- The species is the oldest tyrannosaur known from northern North America.
Key Points
- Tyrannosaurs were one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs to have ever lived, with very large and high skulls.
- They did not have one general body type; rather different tyrannosaur species evolved distinct body sizes, skull forms and other such physical features.
- The found fossils are important to understand the Late Cretaceous period, which is the period when tyrannosaurs roamed the Earth.
- Cretaceous Period, in geologic time, is the last of the three periods of the Mesozoic Era. The Cretaceous began 145.0 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago; it followed the Jurassic Period and was succeeded by the Paleogene Period .
