Texas paleontologists discovered a new species of dinosaur dubbed as 'smaller cousin' of the feared Tyrannosaurus-Rex in Alaska.
The smaller relative of T-Rex appears to have dwelled as far as Arctic Circle. The paleontologists found the fossilized skull remains, believed to be around 70 million years old, in Prince Creek Formation, Alaska.
Scientists examined the partial skull roof, maxilla and jaw, of the fossil. They compared the remains to the tyrannosaurine species. The dinosaur was originally believed to belong to a different species.
According to the analysis, the cranial bones represent Nanuqsaurus hoglundi, a new tyrannosaurine species closely related to two other tyrannosaurides, Tarbosaurus and Tyrannosaurus, researchers explained in a press release.
The scientists said the new dinosaur was relatively small. The adult skull of the dinosaur is around 25 inches, compared to 60 inches for T-rex and it mostly inhabited a seasonally extreme, high-latitude continental environment on the northernmost edge of the Cretaceous North America.
The paleontologists also said that the smaller body size of N hoglundi compared to other tyrannosaurids belonging to lower latitudes shows an adaptation to inconsistency in resources in the arctic seasons. Furthermore, they said the discovery might shed light on the tyrannosaurs' evolution and adaptability to the changing environments of the Arctic.
"The 'pygmy tyrannosaur' alone is really cool because it tells us something about what the environment was like in the ancient Arctic," said Anthony Fiorillo from Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Texas, who did the analysis with Ronald S Tykoski and colleagues.
"But what makes this discovery even more exciting is that Nanuqsaurus hoglundi also tells us about the biological richness of the ancient polar world during a time when the Earth was very warm compared to today," said Fiorillo.
The finding was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
