Topic: Research News

A long-standing debate in dinosaur science has been settled. Researchers found that Nanotyrannus, thought to be a young Tyrannosaurus rex, is actually a separate species. The discovery was made by studying the hyoid bone of a fossilized skull.

The University of Nebraska State Museum's Ashley Poust and her team have finally put an end to a long-running debate in dinosaur science. They found that Nanotyrannus, often described as a smaller version of Tyrannosaurus rex, is actually a real and separate species.

The research team, led by Christopher Griffin from Princeton University, focused on the original Nanotyrannus fossil, a skull housed at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. To determine the animal's age at death, they examined a rarely studied bone known as the ceratobranchial, or hyoid, which was preserved with the skull.

Using bone histology, or the study of fossilized bone microstructure, the team analyzed this small throat bone and identified growth patterns that indicate the animal had reached or was close to full maturity. This finding is critical because it shows the specimen was not a young Tyrannosaurus rex still growing.

The team's findings were published in Science. According to Poust,

Implications

A long-standing debate in dinosaur science has been settled. Researchers found that Nanotyrannus, thought to be a young Tyrannosaurus rex, is actually a separate species. The discovery was made by studying the hyoid bone of a fossilized skull.