Scientists have unearthed remains of a giant meat-eating dinosaur in Utah. Scientists were thrilled to find more evidence about this dominant dinosaur species which may have roamed the Earth 100 million years ago.
The dinosaur called Siat meekerorum, also known as Siat, may have reigned over the early species of tyrannosaurs 100 million years. Its length is over 30 feet with an approximate weight of four tons. The gigantic dinosaur is from the carcharodontosaurs, a species of predators. It is not related to the Tyrranosaurus Rex.
Lead researcher Lindsay Zanno unearthed the remains in 2008. She told Philly.com, "This dinosaur was a colossal predator second only to the great T. rex and perhaps Acrocanthosaurus in the North American fossil record." Zanno is also the Paleontology Director at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University.
The research team spent two summers to fully excavate the fossils from the site in Utah's Cedar Mountain. They said that the dinosaur fossils were the first to be discovered in North America.
"Finding Siats in the 30-million-year predator gap tells us carcharodontosaurs reigned supreme in North America for much longer than anyone had expected," said Zanno.
The Utah site also had tyrannosaurs fossils whose teeth give evidence that the species then were smaller than the Siats. This meant that early tyrannosaurs were dominated over by the Siats.
Co-author Peter Makovicky said, "The huge size difference certainly suggests that tyrannosaurs were held in check by carcharodontosaurs, and only evolved into enormous apex predators after the carcharodontosaurs disappeared." Makovicky is the Field Museum's Curator of Dinosaurs.
"We were thrilled to discover the first dinosaur of its kind in North America and add to mounting evidence that dinosaurs were widely dispersed across the globe 100 million years ago, Makovicky added.
The study was published in the Nature Communicationsjournal.
