A new species of dinosaur described as Tyrannosaurus Rex's "smaller cousin from the north" has been discovered.
An analysis of 70-million-year-old fossilised skull remains discovered in northern Alaska has shown them to be from a new pygmy Tyrannosaurus, according to research published in the open access journal PLOS ONE.
Scientists examined fragments of the skull roof, maxilla and jaw, and concluded that the species, Nanuqsaurus hoglundi, had an adult skull length of 25in (63.5cm), less than half the size of the 60in (152.4cm) skull of a T Rex, believed to have been the largest of all carnivorous dinosaurs.
Study co-authors Anthony Fiorillo and Ronald Tykoski, from the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Texas, said the smaller body size may have reflected an adaption to scarcer resources in the Arctic seasons and the species' partial isolation in the north.
Tyrannosaurs have captured popular imagination since their discovery but the majority of information about them comes from fossils from low to mid-latitudes of North America and Asia.
"The 'pygmy tyrannosaur' alone is really cool because it tells us something about what the environment was like in the ancient Arctic," said Mr Fiorillo.
"But what makes this discovery even more exciting is that Nanuqsaurus hoglundi also tells us about the biological richness of the ancient polar world during a time when the Earth was very warm compared to today."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article