Teratophoneus
| Teratophoneus Temporal range:Late Cretaceous,
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|---|---|
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| Reconstructed adult and juvenile skeletons,Natural History Museum of Utah | |
Scientific classification
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Tyrannosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Tyrannosaurinae |
| Clade: | †Teratophoneini |
| Genus: | †Teratophoneus Carret al.,2011 |
| Type species | |
| †Teratophoneus curriei Carret al.,2011
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Teratophoneus( "monstrous murderer"; Greek:teras,"monster" andphoneus,"murderer" ) is agenusoftyrannosaurinetheropoddinosaurthat lived during the lateCampanianage of theLate Cretaceousperiod, (about 77 to 76 million years ago) in what is nowUtah.It contains a single known species,T. curriei.It is known from an incompleteskulland postcranialskeletonrecovered from theKaiparowits Formationand wasspecifically namedT. currieiin honor of famed paleontologistPhilip J. Currie.
Discovery and naming
[edit]
Fossils ofTeratophoneuswere first found in theKaiparowits Formationof southern Utah. Later, fossils from the same formation were discovered and identified as the genus.Argon-argon radiometric datingindicates that the Kaiparowits Formation was deposited between 76.1 and 74.0 million years ago, during theCampanianage of theLate Cretaceousperiod. This date means thatTeratophoneuslived in the middle of the Campanian age.
Several fossils ofTeratophoneushave been found. Originally,Teratophoneuswas described based on the holotype specimen BYU 8120. More recently, the specimens UMNH VP 16690 and UMNP VP 16691 have been assigned to it.[1]In 2017, a new specimen ofTeratophoneuswas discovered in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and airlifted to the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City.[2]Later, in 2021, fossils belonging to 4 or 5 individuals were described in the same study.[3]
Teratophoneuswas named by Thomas D. Carr, Thomas E. Williamson, Brooks B. Britt, and Ken Stadtman in 2011. Thetypeand onlyspecieswas namedT. curriei.Thegeneric nameis derived from the Greek wordsteras,meaning "monster", andphoneus,meaning "murderer."[4]Thespecific namehonorsPhilip J. Currie.[5]
Description
[edit]
TheholotypeofTeratophoneusconsists of a fragmentary skull and parts of a postcranial skeleton. The fossils were originally assigned to four different individuals, but are probably only of a single subadult animal. The specimen ofTeratophoneuswas not fully grown. According to an estimate by Carret al., it was about 6 meters (20 ft) long and 667 kg (1,470 lb).[5]However, this is likely an underestimate. In 2016,Gregory S. Paulgave an estimation of 8 meters (26 ft) long and 2.5 t (2.8 short tons) for the maximum adult size.[6]That same year, Molina-Pérez and Larramendi estimated the size of the holotype at 6.4 meters (21.0 ft) long and 1.15 t (1.27 short tons).[7]In 2021, based on the size of the frontal bone (similar to that ofLythronax), Yun moderated the size of the subadult at approximately 6.1 m (20 ft) long and 1 t (1.1 short tons).[8]That same year, the length of the only known articulated specimen, UMNH VP 21100, was measured at 7.6 m (25 ft) and the maximum adult length ofTeratophoneuswas estimated at 8.7 m (29 ft).[3]
Compared to the skull ofAlbertosaurus,Teratophoneusis roughly twenty-three percent shorter in proportion between the lacrimal bone of theantorbital fenestraand the tip of the snout. The skull ofTeratophoneusis also comparably deeper. It is unclear if there was a specific reason for these differences, but the extra depth may have allowed for stronger jaw muscles, thus increasing the bite force ofTeratophoneus.[citation needed]
Classification
[edit]Loewenet al.(2013) conducted a phylogenetic analysis of the familyTyrannosauridaeand confirmed the assignment ofTeratophoneusto the tyrannosaurid subfamilyTyrannosaurinae.They concluded thatTeratophoneuswas closely related to bothTarbosaurusandTyrannosaurus,but placed it in a more basal position within the family, though it was more derived thanDaspletosaurus.[1]
Below is the cladogram based on thephylogenetic analysisconducted by Loewenet al.in 2013.[1]
| Tyrannosauridae |
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In 2020, when describing the genusThanatotheristes,Voriset al.,2020 foundTeratophoneusto be in a subclade alongsideDynamoterrorandLythronax.This clade, however, remains unnamed.[9]
Paleobiology
[edit]Social Behavior
[edit]
A bone bed of fossils from the Rainbows and Unicorns Quarry in Southern Utah's Kaiparowits Formation described in 2021 attributed toTeratophoneussuggests that the genus may have been a social pack-hunter. The fossils, consisting of four or possibly five animals ranging from 4–22 years of age, suggest a mass mortality event, possibly caused by flooding or less likely by cyanobacterial toxicosis, fire, or drought. The fact that all of the animals preserved died within a short time period further strengthens the argument for gregarious behavior in tyrannosaurids, with bone beds ofTeratophoneus,Albertosaurus,andDaspletosaurusshowcasing the potential behavior may have been widespread amongst tyrannosaurs in general.[3][10]
Paleoecology
[edit]
The holotype ofTeratophoneuswas recovered at the Kaiparowits Formation in southern Utah. Argon-argon radiometric dating indicates that the fossils were buried during the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period.[11][12]During the Late Cretaceous, the site within the Kaiparowits Formation was located onLaramidianear its eastern shore on theWestern Interior Seaway,a large inland sea that split North America into two island landmasses, the other one beingAppalachiain the east. The plateau where dinosaurs lived was an ancient floodplain dominated by large channels and an abundance of wetlandpeatswamps, ponds, and lakes and was bordered by highlands. The climate was wet and humid, supporting an array of different and diverse groups of organisms.[13]This formation contains one of the best and most continuous records of Late Cretaceous terrestrial life in the world.[14]
Teratophoneus currieishared itspaleoenvironmentwith othertheropods,such asdromaeosaurids,thetroodontidTalos sampsoni,ornithomimidslikeOrnithomimus velox,and thecaenagnathidHagryphus giganteus.Non-theropod dinosaurs included the ankylosaurAkainacephalus johnsoni,thehadrosaursParasaurolophus cyrtocristatusandGryposaurus monumentensis,and theceratopsiansUtahceratops gettyi,Nasutoceratops titusi,andKosmoceratops richardsoni.[15]Other paleofauna present in the Kaiparowits Formation includedchondrichthyans(sharks and rays),frogs,salamanders,turtles,lizards,andcrocodilians,withDeinosuchusbeing theapex predator.[16]A variety of earlymammalswere present, includingmultituberculates,marsupials,andinsectivorans.[17]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^abcLoewen, M.A.; Irmis, R.B.; Sertich, J.J.W.; Currie, P.J.; Sampson, S.D. (2013). Evans, D.C. (ed.)."Tyrant Dinosaur Evolution Tracks the Rise and Fall of Late Cretaceous Oceans".PLOS ONE.8(11): e79420.Bibcode:2013PLoSO...879420L.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079420.PMC3819173.PMID24223179.
- ^Maffly, B. (October 16, 2017)."Nearly complete tyrannosaur fossil airlifted from Utah's Grand Staircase".The Salt Lake Tribune.
- ^abcTitus, Alan L.; Knoll, Katja; Sertich, Joseph J. W.; Yamamura, Daigo; Suarez, Celina A.; Glasspool, Ian J.; Ginouves, Jonathan E.; Lukacic, Abigail K.; Roberts, Eric M. (April 19, 2021)."Geology and taphonomy of a unique tyrannosaurid bonebed from the upper Campanian Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah: implications for tyrannosaurid gregariousness".PeerJ.9:e11013.doi:10.7717/peerj.11013.PMC8061582.PMID33976955– via peerj.com.
- ^Liddell, H.G.; Scott, R. (1980).A Greek-English Lexicon(Abridged ed.). United Kingdom:Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-910207-4.
- ^abCarr, T.D.; Williamson, T.E.; Britt, B.B.; Stadtman, K. (2011). "Evidence for high taxonomic and morphologic tyrannosaurid diversity in the Late Cretaceous (Late Campanian) of the American Southwest and a new short-skulled tyrannosaurid from the Kaiparowits formation of Utah".Naturwissenschaften.98(3): 241–246.Bibcode:2011NW.....98..241C.doi:10.1007/s00114-011-0762-7.PMID21253683.S2CID13261338.
- ^Paul, Gregory S. (2016).The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs 2nd Edition.New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 114.
- ^Molina-Pérez, R.; Larramendi, A. (2016).Récords y curiosidades de los dinosaurios: Terópodos y otros dinosauromorfos.Barcelona, Spain: Larousse. p. 267.ISBN9788416641154.
- ^Yun, C. (2021)."Frontal bone anatomy ofTeratophoneus curriei(Theropoda: Tyrannosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation of Utah ".Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae.18(1): 51–64.doi:10.35463/j.apr.2022.01.06.
- ^Voris, Jared T.; Therrien, Francois; Zelenitzky, Darla K.; Brown, Caleb M. (2020). "A new tyrannosaurine (Theropoda:Tyrannosauridae) from the Campanian Foremost Formation of Alberta, Canada, provides insight into the evolution and biogeography of tyrannosaurids". Cretaceous Research. 110: 104388. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104388.
- ^Eilperin, Juliet (April 19, 2021)."Tyrannosaurs likely hunted in packs rather than heading out solo, scientists find".The Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on April 20, 2021.
- ^Roberts, E.M.; Deino, A.L.; Chan, M.A. (2005). "^40Ar/^30Ar Age of the Kaiparowits Formation, southern Utah, and correlation of contemporaneous Campanian strata and vertebrate faunas along the margin of the Western Interior Basin".Cretaceous Research.26(2): 307–318.doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2005.01.002.
- ^Eaton, J.G. (2002). "Multituberculate mammals from the Wahweap (Campanian, Aquilan) and Kaiparowits (Campanian, Judithian) formations, within and near Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, southern Utah".Miscellaneous Publication - Utah Geological Survey.
- ^Loewen, M.A.; Titus, A.L., eds. (2013).At the Top of the Grand Staircase: The Late Cretaceous of Southern Utah.Indiana University Press.ISBN9780253008961.
- ^Clinton, William."Presidential Proclamation: Establishment of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument".September 18, 1996.Archived fromthe originalon August 28, 2013.RetrievedNovember 9,2013.
- ^Zanno, L.E.; Sampson, S.D. (2005). "A new oviraptorosaur (Theropoda; Maniraptora) from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Utah".Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.25(4): 897–904.doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0897:ANOTMF]2.0.CO;2.
- ^Schwimmer, David R. (2002). "The Prey of Giants".King of the Crocodylians: The Paleobiology of Deinosuchus.Indiana University Press.pp. 167–192.ISBN978-0-253-34087-0.
- ^Eaton, J.G.; Cifelli, R.L.; Hutchinson, J.H.; Kirkland, J.I.; Parrish, J.M. (1999). "Cretaceous vertebrate faunas from the Kaiparowits Plateau, south-central Utah". In Gillete, D.D. (ed.).Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah.Miscellaneous Publication 99-1. Salt Lake City: Utah Geological Survey. pp. 345–353.ISBN1-55791-634-9.
