Tarbosaurus

Tarbosaurus is a genus of large tyrannosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period. It contains the type and single species Tarbosaurus bataar, which is known from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia, with more fragmentary remains found further afield in the Subashi Formation of China. Tarbosaurus is represented by dozens of fossil specimens, including several complete skulls and skeletons. These remains have allowed studies focusing on its phylogeny, skull mechanics, and brain structure. Further fossil remains have been reported from other geologic formations of Asia, however, these remains are fragmentary and cannot be confidently assigned to Tarbosaurus or the type species.

A picture published with the record for Tarbosaurus.

Lwilcoxson · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
TyrannosauriniPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda
Length
10 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 83.6 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 89.8 Mya to 66 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 56 of 56 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 56 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences89–89 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences86–85 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences85–85 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences85–84 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences80–80 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences75–75 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 7 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 7 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 7 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 7 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 7 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 7 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 7 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 3 occurrences83.6 Mya72.2 Mya90.3 Mya65.5 Mya

56 occurrences of Tarbosaurus on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

56 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Nemegt — 43.54°N, 99.60°ENemegt — 43.57°N, 100.48°ENemegt — 43.44°N, 100.37°ENemegt — 43.48°N, 100.36°ENemegt — 43.52°N, 101.03°ENemegt — 43.58°N, 100.44°ENemegt — 43.50°N, 101.05°ENemegt — 43.87°N, 100.01°ENemegt — 43.82°N, 99.98°ENemegt — 43.47°N, 99.83°ENemegt — 43.85°N, 100.14°ENemegt — 43.48°N, 100.46°ENemegt — 43.49°N, 101.28°ENemegt — 43.61°N, 100.57°ENemegt — 43.99°N, 101.28°ENemegt — 43.50°N, 100.33°EUdurchukan — 49.08°N, 130.86°EYuliangzi — 48.86°N, 130.24°EQiupa — 33.93°N, 111.77°ESubashi — 42.82°N, 89.86°EBeds of Nogon Tsav — 43.00°N, 99.00°EJiangjunding — 36.92°N, 120.62°E

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The named rock units Tarbosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Tarbosaurus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Tarbosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

101 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 53 sites for Tarbosaurus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

24 references

Each of the 56 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 12 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Tarbosaurus

Credit
Lwilcoxson
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itTyrannosaurini through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Maleev 1955