This new dinosaur ate tyrannosaurs for dinner

It might not have such a catchy name as the Tyrannosaurus, but there was a time when the Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis he was the real showmaster in the jungles of what is now Uzbekistan. This huge tells usthe carnivorous aurian was the main predator of the Late Cretaceous period, and its diet also includedm Tyrannosaurus.

The Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis eThis is a new species from a little-known family of theropod dinosaurs, the Carcharodontosauria, named after their serrated teeth. It’s a family before Tyrannosaurus although very similar in shape. Among its most notable members is thI Allosaurus or the Giganotosaurus. The family includes some of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs ever discovered, with specimens that They reach 13.3 meters long and 15.1 tons in weight. The largest known tyrannosaurus specimen, nicknamed Scotty, it must have weighed about eight tons in comparison.

A study of the bones of Carcharadontosaurus done by Donald Henderson, head of dinosaurs at the Tyrrell Museum, suggests that the musculature and center of gravity of these predators allowed them to hold and lift pieces over 400 kiweigh them easily.

The recently discovered specimen in the Kyzylkum Desert in the Republic of Uzbekistan is not that large. It was about 7.5 or eight meters tall, but it was a time when different species of Tyrannosaurus like him Timurlengia they weren’t as big as the famous ones Tyrannosaurus Rex, which will probably convert themaunt in the dam fathel for this predator, which was at the top of the food pyramid at the end of the Cretaceous, around 90 million years ago. It was about twice as long and over five times as heavy.

The discovery of this new species was made thanks to a huge jaw fragment found in the 80s and which was part of the collectionn the Uzbekistan Museum, but not was rediscovered until 2019.

One of the greatest mysteries of the Carcharadontosaurus is linked to its disappearance. There are ent80 and 90 million years ago, this family of enormous carnivores declined until they completely disappeared, replaced by the Tyrannosaurus, whose varieties increased in size as they rose to the top of the food pyramid. No one knows why the Carcharadontosaurus. Its decline is believed to be related to changes in the ecosystem that have affected the amount of prey available, but it is necessaryI need to find more fossils from this period to get a more precise answer. [Royal Society Open Science vía Science Alert]