New 30ft long species of dinosaur related to T-Rex known as the ‘Reaper of Death’ is identified
A NEW species of dinosaur known as the “Reaper of Death” has been identified.
The tyrannosaur — related to the T-Rex — grew up to 30ft long and weighed in at two tons.
Experts think the species was wiped out 79million years ago by the much larger T-Rex, which grew up to 40ft and tipped the scales at nine tons.
Fragments of the reaper’s skull were unearthed next to a river in Alberta, Canada, by farmer John De Groot while hiking with his family in 2010.
The fossils were stored in a drawer at a museum for years, until a University of Calgary researcher first reviewed the find two years ago.
PhD student Jared Voris noticed unique skull features such as prominent ridges on the upper jaw line.
Experts now say the dinosaur — thought to have had a high tooth count and long, deep snout — is the oldest tyrannosaur found in Canada, making it 12million years older than its “cousin” the T-Rex.
The scientific name, Thanatotheristes Degrootorum, means reaper of death in Greek and also contains a nod to its finder.
Mr Voris said: “It’s older than T-Rex but it seems like this was North America’s T-Rex at the time.
“It was a species that was distinct from T-Rex and it wasn’t until several million years later that T-Rex came to North America, probably from Asia, and invaded and replaced all the tyrannosaurs that we see in North America from that time range.
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“It would have been quite an imposing animal. It definitely would have caused some panic.”
The Reaper of Death is the fifth Tyrannosaur species to be discovered in Canada and the first one in 50 years.
Francois Therrien, curator of dinosaur paleoecology at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, said: “There’s very few places in the world where you can brag that you have five different species of tyrannosaurs.”
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