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spiraldancing [soylentnews.org] writes:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/feb/10/reaper-of-death-t-rex-dinosaur-species-canada [theguardian.com]

Scientists in Canada have announced the discovery of a new species of dinosaur closely related to Tyrannosaurus rex that strode the plain of North America about 80m years ago.

Thanatotheristes degrootorum – Greek for “reaper of death” – is thought to be the oldest member of the T rex family yet discovered in northern North America, and would have grown to around 8m (26ft) in length.

“We chose a name that embodies what this tyrannosaur was as the only known large apex predator of its time in Canada, the reaper of death,” said Darla Zelenitsky, assistant professor of dinosaur palaeobiology at Canada’s University of Calgary.

“The nickname has come to be Thanatos,” she told AFP.

Whereas T rex – the most famous of all dinosaur species – stalked its prey aboutr 66m years ago, Thanatos dates back at least 79m years, the team said.

The specimen was discovered by Jared Voris, a PhD student at Calgary, and is the first new tyrannosaur species found for 50 years in Canada.

[...]

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