Lythronax

Lythronax is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur that lived in North America around 80. 6–79. 9 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. The only known specimen was discovered in Utah in the Wahweap Formation of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in 2009. In 2013, it became the basis of the new genus and species Lythronx argestes. The generic name means “gore king” and the specific name argeste is a Greek name used by the poet Homer for the wind from the southwest.

About Lythronax in brief

Lythronax is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur that lived in North America around 80. 6–79. 9 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. The only known specimen was discovered in Utah in the Wahweap Formation of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in 2009. It consists of a partial skull and skeleton, and in 2013, it became the basis of the new genus and species Lythronx argestes. The generic name means “gore king” and the specific name argeste is a Greek name used by the poet Homer for the wind from the southwest, in reference to where the specimen was found within North America. Size estimates have ranged between 5 and 8 m in length, and between 0. 5 and 2. 5 t in weight. It would have had small, two-fingered forelimbs, strong hindlimbs and a very robust skull. The rear part of the skull appears to have been very broad, with eye sockets that faced forwards to a similar degree as seen in Tyrannosaurus. The frontmost teeth were the largest, the longest being almost 13 cm long. The forward-facing eyes gave it depth perception, which may have been useful during pursuit or ambush predation. Due to its age, the dinosaur is important for understanding the evolutionary origins of Tyrannosaurids, including the development of their anatomical specializations. The holotype was found in the middle member of the Wah weap Formation, which dates to the Campanian stage of the Cretsaceous.

It is thus the oldest known member. of the family Tyrannosaurus, and it is thought to have was more basal than Tyrannosaurus, and is important because it came from an age with no known members of that group. The fossil remains were carefully excavated over a year by a joint team from the BLM and the Natural History Museum of Utah. The locality, which is public land, was designated as UMNH VP 1501. Prior to the dinosaur’s formal description, it had been referred to as the \”Nipple Butte Tyrannosur\” or \”Wahweap tyrannosurid\”. The specimen, UM NH VP 20200, was made the holotype of thenew genus and. species L Pythronaxargestes by paleontologist Mark A. Loewen and colleagues in 2013. In full, the scientific name can be translated as “Gore King” or “King of the southwest” The suffix meaning “gores” was intended to allude to its presumed lifestyle as a dead animal with its head covered in blood of the blood of a dead predator. The prefix was later later later used to mean a similar relative, the Tyrannosaurus rex, meaning “the king of the dead” and “the dead animal” The fossil is the only one of its kind to be discovered in the U.S. and is the basis for a new genus of the same name.

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