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For more than a century, Tyrannosaurus rex has been the King of Dinosaurs, the carnivorous symbol of an entire age in the history of life on Earth. That image no longer holds.
Over the last decade, a series of discoveries have radically expanded our knowledge of the Tyrannosauroidea. T. rex now seems less like the taxonomical superfamily's patriarch than an odd cousin.
"T. rex is so iconic. Everybody has that image of it," said American Museum of Natural History paleontologist Stephen Brusatte. "T. rex in many ways were very unusual tyrannosaurs. They're not the norm for the group now."
As described in a September 17 Science article co-authored by Brusatte, tyrannosaurs came in a wide range of sizes, shapes and habits over their 100 million year history. Most were small and overshadowed by other, larger predators. Only at the end did T. rex and its Asian counterpart, Tarbosaurus, cast their tyrant shadows.
"A lot of this work is new. It's as contemporary as paleontology gets," said Brusatte. "We wrote this review to pay homage to these discoveries, and to change perception of tyrannosaurs."
To meet some of the other notable members of T. rex's family, click on.
Image: Rich Middleditch, Flickr.
See Also:
- First-Gen T. Rex Was No Bigger Than You
- Claws, Jaws and Spikes: The Science of the Dinosaur Arsenal
- Dinosaur Fossil Reveals True Feather Colors
- Video: Model Dinosaur Tests Four-Winged Flight
- Vote for Your Favorite Dinosaur Illustration
Citation: "Tyrannosaur Paleobiology: New Research on Ancient Exemplar Organisms." By Stephen L. Brusatte, Mark A. Norell, Thomas D. Carr, Gregory M. Erickson, John R. Hutchinson, Amy M. Balanoff, Gabe S. Bever, Jonah N. Choiniere, Peter J. Makovicky, Xing Xu. Science, Vol. 329 No. 5998, September 17, 2010.
Brandon Keim's Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter. Brandon is currently working on an ecological tipping point project.
