Tyrannosauripus

Tyrannosauripus
Temporal range:
Tyrannosauripus pillmorei, probable Tyrannosaurus footprint from Philmont Scout Ranch, New Mexico
Trace fossil classification Edit this classification
Ichnofamily: Tyrannosauripodidae
Ichnogenus: Tyrannosauripus
Lockley & Hunt, 1994
Type ichnospecies
Tyrannosauripus pillmorei
Lockley & Hunt, 1994

Tyrannosauripus is an ichnogenus of dinosaur footprint. It was discovered by geologist Charles "Chuck" Pillmore in 1983 and formally described by Martin Lockley and Adrian Hunt in 1994.[1] This fossil footprint from northern New Mexico (within the Philmont Scout Ranch boundary) is 86 cm long by 64cm wide[2] and given its Late Cretaceous age (about 66 million years old), it very likely belonged to the giant theropod dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex.[1] In 2016 the size of this individual was estimated at 11.4 meters (37.4 ft) and 5.8-6.9 tonnes (6.4-7.6 short tons).[3] Similar tridactyl dinosaur tracks in North America were discovered earlier and named Tyrannosauropus in 1971,[4][5] but they were later recognized as hadrosaurid tracks and their description deemed inadequate, with Tyrannosauropus regarded as a nomen dubium.[1] True footprints likely from Tyrannosaurus would not be found until the discovery of Tyrannosauripus. In 2007, a large tyrannosaurid track was found also in eastern Montana (Hell Creek Formation).[6] In 2016, a probable fossil trackway of Tyrannosaurus was discovered in Wyoming (Lance Formation).[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lockley, M. G.; Hunt, A. P. (1994). A track of the giant theropod dinosaur Tyrannosaurus from close to the Cretaceous/Tertiary Boundary, northern New Mexico. Ichnos, 3(3): 213-218.
  2. ↑ Mateus, Octávio; Milàn, Jesper (2010). "A diverse Upper Jurassic dinosaur ichnofauna from central-west Portugal". Lethaia. 43 (2): 245–257. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2009.00190.x. ISSN 0024-1164.
  3. ↑ Molina-Pérez & Larramendi (2016). Récords y curiosidades de los dinosaurios Terópodos y otros dinosauromorfos. Spain: Larousse. p. 46.
  4. ↑ Peterson, W. (1924). Dinosaur tracks in the roofs of coal mines. Natural History, 24:388-391.
  5. ↑ Haubold, H. (1971). Ichnia Amphiborum et Reptiliorum Fossilium. Handbuch der Palaeoherpetologie Teil 18. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart. 124 pp.
  6. ↑ Manning, P. L., et al. (2008). A probable tyrannosaurid track from the Hell Creek Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Montana, United States. Palaios 23(10):654-647.
  7. ↑ Smith, S. D., Persons IV, W. S., Xing L. (2016). A tyrannosaur trackway at Glenrock, Lance Formation (Maastrichtian), Wyoming. Cretaceous Research 61, 1-4.
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