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Scientists say new species of dinosaur reveals more about evolution of tyrannosaurs like T.rex

The image shows an artist's impression of the newly discovered dinosaur. It walks on two hindlegs and has an elongated head with sharp teeth.Julius Csotonyi

An artist's impression of the newly discovered dinosaur

When you think about the T.rex, you probably picture a big predator with small arms and big teeth.

But its early ancestors didn't look quite as fearsome and scientists have found a new species of dinosaur they believe is its most recent relative.

Researchers called the species Khankhuuluu mongoliensis which means Dragon Prince of Mongolia.

They say the discovery has helped understand the evolution of the T.rex from their small early ancestors.

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The image shows two scientists, PhD student Jared Voris and Prof Darla Zelenitsky from the University of Calgary, examining the fossilised skull of a tyrannosaur. The large, brown dinosaur skull is on a table in the foreground. There are other dinosaur bones on shelves and surfaces around the room.Riley Brandt/University of Calgary

PhD student Jared Voris and Prof Darla Zelenitsky worked on the study

The team at the University of Calgary in Canada studied two partial skeletons which were first discovered in Mongolia in the 1970s which were being kept at a museum,

The fossils are 86-million-years old and have given scientists new information about tyrannosaurs evolved.

Jared Voris, a PhD student working on the project, noticed features similar to the tyrannosaur.

The skull suggested it had a strong jaw, a feature found in tyrannosaurs, needed for their powerful bite.

The evolution of such powerful jaws meant the T.rex could pounce on larger prey, and even bite through bone.

The image shows a detailed artist's impression of a carnivorous dinosaur that has been named Khankhuuluu mongoliensis. It is upright on hindlegs with much shorter, smaller forelimbs and long claws. It has a large, quite elongated head and sharp teeth that it is displaying.Masato Hattori

An artist's impression of Khankhuuluu mongoliensis

Tyrannosauroids are the superfamily of carnivorous (meat eating) dinosaurs that walked on two legs.

The first tyrannosauroids though were tiny. They were nimble on their feet and "lived in the shadows of other apex predators" according to lead researcher Professor Darla Zelenitsky.

She explained that the new species, Khankhuuluu, is a "transitional fossil between earlier ancestors and the mighty tyrannosaurs".

It would have weighed about 750kg (about the same as a giraffe) while an adult T.rex could have weighed as much as eight times that.

"It has helped us revise the tyrannosaur family tree and rewrite what we know about the evolution of tyrannosaurs," she added.

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