Bistahieversor

Filozoa

Bistahieversor
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 75 Ma
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A skull during preparation
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Superfamily: †Tyrannosauroidea
Genus: †Bistahieversor
Carr & Williamson, 2010
Species: †B. sealeyi
Binomial name
Bistahieversor sealeyi
Carr & Williamson, 2010

Bistahieversor (meaning "Bistahi destroyer") is a genus of tyrannosauroid dinosaur. Bistahieversor existed around 75 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous.[1]

The name Bistahieversor comes from the Navajo Bistahí, or "place of the adobe formations" in reference to the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness where it was found, and eversor, meaning "destroyer."[1]

Contents

Description

Material from both adolescent and adult individuals has been found in the Kirtland Formation of New Mexico. Adult Bistahieversor are estimated to have been around 9 metres (30 ft) long, weighing at least a ton. The snout is deep, indicating that the feature is not unique to more derived tyrannosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus. Geographical barriers such as the newly forming Rocky Mountains may have isolated the more southerly Bistahieversor from more derived northern tyrannosaurs.[2]

Bistahieversor differs from other tyrannosaurs in the possession of 64 teeth, an extra opening above the eye, and a keel along the lower jaw. The opening above the eye is thought to have accommodated an air sac that would have lightened the skull's weight. Bistahieversor also had a complex joint at its "forehead" that would have stabilized the skull, preventing movement at the joint.[3]

History of discovery

The first remains now attributed to Bistahieversor, a partial skull and skeleton, were described in 1990 as a specimen of Aublysodon.[4] Additional remains, consisting of the incomplete skull and skeleton of a juvenile, were described in 1992.[5] Another, complete, skull and partial skeleton were found in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness of New Mexico in 1998.[6] In a 2000 paper, Thomas Carr and Thomas Williamson re-examined these four specimens and suggested that they did not belong to Aublysodon, but rather to one or more new species of Daspletosaurus.[7] However, it was not until 2010 that Carr and Williamson published a thorough re-description of the specimens and found that they belonged to a new genus and species of more generalized tyrannosauroid, which they named Bistahieversor sealeyi.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Carr, T.D. and Williamson, T.E. (2010). "Bistahieversor sealeyi, gen. et sp. nov., a new tyrannosauroid from New Mexico and the origin of deep snouts in Tyrannosauroidea." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 30(1): 1-16. doi:10.1080/02724630903413032
  2. ^ Rettner, R. (28 January 2010). "New Tyrannosaur Species Discovered". LiveScience. http://www.livescience.com/animals/tyrannosaur-new-species-100128.html. Retrieved 1 February 2010. 
  3. ^ Viegas, J. (28 January 2010). "New Tyrannosaur Had More Teeth Than T. rex". Discovery News. http://news.discovery.com/dinosaurs/tyrannosaur-new-mexico-dinosaur.html. Retrieved 1 February 2010. 
  4. ^ Lehman and Carpenter, K. (1990). "A partial skeleton of the tyrannosaurid dinosaur Aublysodon from the Upper Cretaceous of New Mexico." Journal of Paleontology, 64: 1026-1032.
  5. ^ Archer, B. and Babiarz, J.P. (1992). "Another tyrannosaurid dinosaur from the Cretaceous of northwest New Mexico." Journal of Paleontology, 66: 690–691.
  6. ^ "New Species of Tyrannosaur Discovered in Southwestern U.S.". Newswise. 28 January 2010. http://www.newswise.com/articles/new-species-of-tyrannosaur-discovered-in-southwestern-u-s. Retrieved 1 February 2010. 
  7. ^ Carr, T. D. and Williamson, T.E. (2000). "A review of Tyrannosauridae (Dinosauria: Coelurosauria) from New Mexico." New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 17: 113–145.