"For decades, paleontologists have been terrorized by the notion of a teenage Tyrannosaurus rex. Starting in the 1940s, excavations unearthed skulls belonging to what appeared to be smaller and more slender tyrannosaurs. But the scientists were sharply divided on what these skulls represented. Were they a Tween rex or a totally different dinosaur? In 1988, a group of scientists including paleontologist Philip J. Currie classified a skull of a tyrannosaur found in Montana that was approximately half as long as T. rex as a new genus and species: Nanotyrannus lancensis. In 1999, the paleontologist Thomas Carr published a rebuttal paper arguing that the specimen merely represented an adolescent T. rex."
"In the years since, Nanotyrannus has been surrounded by controversy. A few scientists staunchly defended the smaller species, while most others insisted that there is no such thing as Nanotyrannus, interpreting the smaller dinos as abundant evidence of a young T. rex. Paper upon paper has come out giving evidence for either side of the debate, with none robust enough to conclusively settle it."
Smaller, slender tyrannosaur skulls discovered since the 1940s prompted classification disputes over whether they represented juvenile T. rex individuals or a distinct species. In 1988 researchers named one such specimen Nanotyrannus lancensis; a later rebuttal argued those specimens were adolescent T. rex. Decades of conflicting papers left the issue unresolved, with proponents on both sides. A recent anatomical and taxonomic analysis concludes that the smaller fossils represent a distinct, smaller tyrannosaur species. Several long-standing skeptics report being persuaded by the new evidence. Recognition of a second tyrannosaur species necessitates reassessment of tyrannosaur classification and evolutionary interpretations.
Read at Defector
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]