Tyrannosauripus
Temporal range:
Tyrannosauripus pillmorei, probable Tyrannosaurus footprint from Philmont Scout Ranch, New Mexico
Trace fossil classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Family: †Tyrannosauridae
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 is 96 cm long and given its Late Cretaceous age (about 66 million years old), it very likely belonged to the giant theropod dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex. 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).[2] Similar tridactyl dinosaur tracks in North America were discovered earlier and named Tyrannosauropus in 1971,[3][4] 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).[5] In 2016, a probable fossil trackway of Tyrannosaurus was discovered in Wyoming (Lance Formation).[6]

References

  1. 1 2 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. ↑ Molina-Pérez & Larramendi (2016). Récords y curiosidades de los dinosaurios Terópodos y otros dinosauromorfos. Spain: Larousse. p. 46.
  3. ↑ Peterson, W. (1924). Dinosaur tracks in the roofs of coal mines. Natural History, 24:388-391.
  4. ↑ Haubold, H. (1971). Ichnia Amphiborum et Reptiliorum Fossilium. Handbuch der Palaeoherpetologie Teil 18. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart. 124 pp.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ 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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