Alioramus

Alioramus; Temporal range: Maastrichtian; ~70 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	Skeleton mount at Texas A&M University-Commerce
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Family:	†Tyrannosauridae
Tribe:	†Alioramini
Genus:	†Alioramus; Kurzanov 1976
Type species
	†Alioramus remotus; Kurzanov 1976
Species
	†A. altai Brusatte et al. 2009; †A. remotus Kurzanov 1976;
Synonyms
	Qianzhousaurus? ; Lü et al., 2014;

Alioramus is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur. It was about 20 feet long. It lived during the Upper Cretaceous period in what is now Mongolia.

The type species, A. remotus, is known from a partial skull and three foot bones. They were got from Mongolian sediments which were deposited in a humid floodplain about 70 million years ago.^[2] A second species, A. altai, known from a much more complete skeleton, was named and described in 2009.^[3] Its relationships to other tyrannosaurid genera are unclear. Some evidence suggests that Alioramus is closely related to the contemporary species Tarbosaurus bataar.

Wetter climate

The Maastrichtian stage in Mongolia had a wetter and more humid climate than the previous stages. Sediments show there were floodplains, large river channels and soil deposits, with periodic droughts.^[4]

This animal had many teeth, which were smaller than usual in the Tyrannosauridae, and a narrow, lower skull. It may have been a sub-adult (teenager), and must have eaten different prey than Tyrannosaurus. Since the general area was a riverine delta, the prey may have been fish.

References

↑ Carr, Thomas D.; Varricchio, David J.; Sedlmayr, Jayc C.; Roberts, Eric M.; Moore, Jason R. (2017). "A new tyrannosaur with evidence for anagenesis and crocodile-like facial sensory system". Scientific Reports. 7: 44942. Bibcode:2017NatSR...744942C. doi:10.1038/srep44942. PMC 5372470. PMID 28358353.
↑ Kurzanov, Sergei M. A new carnosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Nogon-Tsav, Mongolia". The Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition Transactions (in Russian) 3: 93–104.
↑ Brusatte, Stephen L. et al 2009. A long-snouted, multihorned tyrannosaurid from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. online preprint (41): 17261–6. [1]
↑ Osmólska, Halszka (1997). "Nemegt Formation". In Currie, Philip J.; Kevin Padian (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 471–472. ISBN 978-0-12-226810-6.

[Horneri-1] Carr, Thomas D.; Varricchio, David J.; Sedlmayr, Jayc C.; Roberts, Eric M.; Moore, Jason R. (2017). "A new tyrannosaur with evidence for anagenesis and crocodile-like facial sensory system". Scientific Reports. 7: 44942. Bibcode:2017NatSR...744942C. doi:10.1038/srep44942. PMC 5372470. PMID 28358353.

[2] Kurzanov, Sergei M. A new carnosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Nogon-Tsav, Mongolia". The Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition Transactions (in Russian) 3: 93–104.

[3] Brusatte, Stephen L. et al 2009. A long-snouted, multihorned tyrannosaurid from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. online preprint (41): 17261–6. [1]

[osmolska1997-4] Osmólska, Halszka (1997). "Nemegt Formation". In Currie, Philip J.; Kevin Padian (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 471–472. ISBN 978-0-12-226810-6.

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