Project 425: S. L. Brusatte, M. A. Norell, T. D. Carr, G. M. Erickson, J. R. Hutchinson, A. M. Balanoff, G. S. Bever, J. N. Choiniere, P. J. Makovicky, X. Xu. 2010. Tyrannosaur Paleobiology: New Research on Ancient Exemplar Organisms. Science. 329 (5998):1481-1485.
Specimen: † Tyrannosaurus (unvouchered)

Abstract

Tyrannosaurs, the group of dinosaurian carnivores that includes Tyrannosaurus rex and its closest relatives, are icons of prehistory. They are also the most intensively studied extinct dinosaurs, and thanks to large sample sizes and an influx of new discoveries, have become ancient exemplar organisms used to study many themes in vertebrate paleontology. A phylogeny that includes recently described species shows that tyrannosaurs originated by the Middle Jurassic but remained mostly small and ecologically marginal until the latest Cretaceous. Anatomical, biomechanical, and histological studies of T. rex and other derived tyrannosaurs show that large tyrannosaurs could not run rapidly, were capable of crushing bite forces, had accelerated growth rates and keen senses, and underwent pronounced changes during ontogeny. The biology and evolutionary history of tyrannosaurs provide a foundation for comparison with other dinosaurs and living organisms.


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Project DOI: 10.7934/P425, http://dx.doi.org/10.7934/P425
This project contains
  • 1 Media
  • 5 Documents
  • 1 Taxon
  • 1 Specimen
Total size of project's media files: 108.91k

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MorphoBank Project 425
  • Creation Date:
    25 October 2010
  • Publication Date:
    19 February 2011
  • Project views: 17503

    Authors' Institutions

    • Columbia University

    • Florida State University

    • The George Washington University

    • Yale University

    • American Museum of Natural History

    • Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), CAS

    • Royal Veterinary College (RVC), United Kingdom

    • Field Museum of Natural History

    • Carthage College



    Members

    member name taxa specimens media
    MorphoBank Curator
    Project Administrator
    111
    Maureen Admin
    Full membership
    000
    Stephen Brusatte
    Full membership
    000
    Seth Kaufman
    000


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    Project views

    type number of views Individual items viewed (where applicable)
    Total project views17503
    Project overview3374
    Documents list1666
    Media views5807Media search (4944 views); M56265 (863 views);
    Specimen list3204
    Bibliography1168
    Taxon list2284




    Project downloads

    type number of downloads Individual items downloaded (where applicable)
    Total downloads from project395
    Document downloads24Tyrannosaur Phylogeny (9 downloads); Tyrannosaur Phylogeny in Excel spreadsheet (2 downloads); Tyrannosauroid Phylogeny (7 downloads); Copyright information for exemplar media (4 downloads); Characters and states (2 downloads);
    Project downloads371