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New Discovery

  Guanlong Wucaii

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Guanlong wucaii (Xomg Xu, 2006)

Name Means: "Crowned Dragon" Length: 25 - 30 feet (7 - 9 m)
Pronounced:   Weight: 1-2 tons(900 - 1,800 kilos)
When it lived: 160 MYA    
Where found: China    
    A Chinese paleontology discovery team recently discovered the oldest ancestor to the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The species, named Guanlong wucaii, or "crown dragon from the land of five colors" is believed to be 160 million years old. Gualong was discovered a northwestern Chinese desert. A great crest of delicate structure crossed its snout longitudinally.
   Scientists say that the creature lived before the T-Rex by 90 million years. Although the Guanlong was considered a predator, it was not the most notable one of its time. However, scientists believe that it could easily outrun its enemies. The notable feature of the skeleton was a large crest on its snout, which is uncharacteristic of meat-eating dinosaurs. The leader of the team, Xing Xu, was from China's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology. A professor from George Washington Unviersity, James M. Clark, helped lead the expedition with Xu, after reported findings of fossils in the area during a search for oil.

 Like the Dilong , the "crowned dragoon" also comes from China, but he is still more old: it lived approximately 160 million ago years (jurásico delayed).

   
Reduced consensus analysis demonstrates that Guanlong is outside of the Tyrannosauridae–Dilong clade on all trees, but the position of Stokesosaurus is unstable (see Supplementary Information). 1, Coelurosauria; 2, Tyrannosauroidea. Bootstrap value (90%) is high for the Tyrannosauroidea including Guanlong wucaii.

Discovery

    Albertosaurus bones were among the earliest dinosaur remains collected in Alberta, Canada. A partial skull was found by J.B. Tyrrell in 1884 was the first important dinosaur fossil to be discovered along the Red Deer River. It was named Albertosaurus sarcophagusin in 1905, the same year that Alberta became a province. It is the type species of the genera.  For many years there was only skull material and only one reasonably complete skeleton.  This is unusual as there have been at least one or two complete skulls found for all other North American tyrannosaurs.

Royal Tyrell Museum

   Joseph Burr Tyrrell was not a paleontologist.  He was a geologist who explored much of western Canada during the late 1800s and early 1900s.  He claimed no priority in the discovery of dinosaurs in the Red Deer River Valley. And yet, it is his name that is attached to the premier paleontological museum in North America -- the one with a major focus on Red Deer Valley dinosaurs -- the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller. 
   The exact location of the bonebed discovered by Tyrell has been lost for many years.  But Dr. Philip Currie, paleontologist of the Royal Tyrell Museum recently found nine Albertosaurus sarcophagus fossils together. Since these dinosaurs were of different ages, they were probably from a herd/pack that lived together (at least temporarily). The idea of a pack of these enormous predators hunting together is extremely scary. The smallest documented Albertosaurus, a juvenile less than a quarter of the size of a full grown adult, was collected from Sandy Point on the South Saskatchewan River in 1986.

Species

   There are two species of Albertosaurus
Albertosaurus
 sarcophagus
    Described above.  Stripped of the remains assigned to Gorgosaurus, this taxon was known mainly from two partial skulls and skeletons.  Recently found bone bed material will add 9 individuals in three general size classes.
Albertosaurus arctunguis
(Parks, 1928).
Skull length : up to 1 m.; Total length : 8 m.; Hip height  : 2.5 m.; Weight  : 2 ton
Albertosaurus libratus (Lambe, 1914) is today known as the Gorgosaurus libratus. (listed at left).  This change of genera is advocated by many paleontologists, who claim that there are enough differences between A. libratus and the other Albertosaurus species to resurrect the older genus name of Gorgosaurus. Skull length : up to 1 m.; Total length : 8.6 m.; Hip height  : 2.8 m; Weight  : 2.5 tonnes

 

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