Tyrannosaurus

Tyrannosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The type species Tyrannosaurus rex, often shortened to T. rex or colloquially T-Rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It lived throughout what is now western North America, on what was then an island continent known as Laramidia. Tyrannosaurus had a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids. Fossils are found in a variety of geological formations which have been dated to the late Maastrichtian age of the late Cretaceous period, 69 to 66 million years ago, with isolated specimens possibly indicating an earlier origin in the middle Campanian age. It was one of the last known members of the tyrannosaurids and among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

A picture published with the record for Tyrannosaurus.

ScottRobertAnselmo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Also called
tyrant lizardPBDB
Sits inside
TyrannosauriniPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda
Length
12 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At most 18 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 83.6 Mya and 66 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Late Cretaceous — about 87 of 87 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 87 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences83–83 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences82–82 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences80–80 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences79–79 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences77–77 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences75–75 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences74–74 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences72–72 Mya — about 7 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 8 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 8 occurrences70–70 Mya — about 8 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 8 occurrences69–69 Mya — about 8 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 8 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 8 occurrences67–67 Mya — about 8 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 8 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 2 occurrences84.1 Mya65.5 Mya

87 occurrences of Tyrannosaurus 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

87 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

17 formations

Hell Creek — 47.54°N, 107.08°WHell Creek — 45.95°N, 103.96°WHell Creek — 46.10°N, 103.30°WHell Creek — 45.98°N, 103.75°WHell Creek — 46.14°N, 103.80°WHell Creek — 46.41°N, 103.94°WHell Creek — 46.38°N, 103.96°WHell Creek — 46.45°N, 103.02°WHell Creek — 46.46°N, 104.02°WHell Creek — 46.33°N, 103.90°WHell Creek — 45.94°N, 103.95°WHell Creek — 47.96°N, 106.46°WHell Creek — 45.65°N, 103.62°WHell Creek — 47.57°N, 107.08°WHell Creek — 45.53°N, 101.63°WHell Creek — 45.06°N, 103.45°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 45.73°N, 104.89°WHell Creek — 46.41°N, 103.50°WHell Creek — 47.73°N, 106.26°WHell Creek — 45.05°N, 101.97°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 107.00°WHell Creek — 45.66°N, 105.08°WHell Creek — 45.89°N, 104.55°WHell Creek — 45.50°N, 103.10°WHell Creek — 45.64°N, 103.49°WHell Creek — 47.89°N, 106.31°WHell Creek — 45.00°N, 103.19°WHell Creek — 45.98°N, 105.04°WHell Creek — 46.95°N, 107.24°WLance — 43.49°N, 104.46°WLance — 43.44°N, 104.41°WLance — 48.29°N, 105.84°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.64°WLance — 43.13°N, 104.07°WLance — 43.17°N, 104.53°WLance — 43.27°N, 104.65°WLance — 43.37°N, 104.70°WLance — 43.42°N, 104.49°WLance — 45.35°N, 105.24°WLance — 44.94°N, 108.85°WLance — 47.48°N, 104.48°WDenver — 39.75°N, 105.20°WDenver — 39.87°N, 105.11°WDenver — 39.61°N, 105.02°WDenver — 39.84°N, 105.04°WFerris — 41.93°N, 106.89°WFerris — 41.80°N, 107.00°WScollard — 51.91°N, 113.03°WScollard — 51.93°N, 113.23°WFrenchman — 49.52°N, 108.82°WFrenchman — 50.21°N, 107.37°WDinosaur Park — 50.73°N, 111.52°WLaramie — 40.39°N, 104.49°WHall Lake — 33.24°N, 107.15°WJudith River — 47.40°N, 109.65°WLomas Coloradas — 31.00°N, 109.00°WWillow Creek — 49.61°N, 114.11°WSubashi — 42.82°N, 89.86°EHarebell — 44.13°N, 110.40°WFruitland/Kirtland — 36.32°N, 108.02°WKirtland — 36.51°N, 108.32°WFox Hills — 46.28°N, 100.54°W

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The named rock units Tyrannosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tyrannosaurus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

337 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 84 sites for Tyrannosaurus, 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

44 references

Each of the 87 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. 32 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 content3

Picture of Tyrannosaurus

Credit
ScottRobertAnselmo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Tyrannosaurus rex · AMNH:FARB:5027

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

This entry was cached before the site began recording what Smithsonian Open Access did, so a search that failed cannot be told from one that found nothing.

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. Osborn 1905