Juratyrant
Name:
Juratyrant
(Jurassic tyrant).
Phonetic: Ju-rah-tie-rant.
Named By: S. L. Brusatte & R. B.
J. Benson - 2013.
Synonyms:Stokesosaurus langhami.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Tyrannosauroidea.
Species: J. langhami (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: For holotype individual, femur (upper leg
bone) about 55 centimetres
long, tibia
(lower leg bone) about 68 centimetres long. Total body length roughly
estimated to be about 5 meters long.
Known locations: England, Dorset - Kimmeridge
Clay Formation.
Time period: Tithonian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial post cranial
remains, including, pelvis, rear limbs and vertebrae.
First
discovered in 1984 and originally described as a species of
Stokesosaurus
in 2008, S. langhami was re-described as a
new
genus of tyrannosaur
in 2013. As is standard practice with such
occurences, the original species name of langhami was retained to
create the new type species, Juratyrant langhami.
The species name
is in honour of Peter Langham who first discovered the remains.
Juratyrant
was typical of the
early tyrannosaurs in that it was far smaller than later genera that
lived at the end of the Cretaceous such as Albertosaurus
and
Tyrannosaurus.
Juratyrant would have lived along other kinds of
dinosaurs such as stegosaurs
like Dacentrurus,
though its small size
means that it may have focused its hunting upon smaller dinosaurs or
the recently hatched juveniles of larger dinosaur genera. The main
defence Juratyrant would have had against larger
theropod dinosaurs of
the time would have been its speed.
Juratyrant
is not the first
tyrannosaur known to have lived in England, Eotyrannus
was described
in 2001.
Further reading
- The systematics of Late Jurassic tyrannosauroids (Dinosauria:
Theropoda) from Europe and North America, S. L. Brusatte
& R. B. J. Benson - 2013.
- New information on Stokesosaurus, a
tyrannosauroid
(Dinosauria: Theropoda) from North America and the United
Kingdom, R. B. J. Benson - 2008.
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