Re: Early Tyrannosaurs?

["T. Mike Keesey" <tkeese1@gl.umbc.edu>]

On Tue, 13 Jul 1999, Larry Febo wrote:

> Thanks all for the replies on "Dwarf tyrannosaurs". One more question...are
> any of these smaller specimens dated at an earlier age than the rest of the
> group as a whole? What is the earliest specimen (large or small)?

The specimens mentioned so far (_Nanotyrannus_, _Dinotyrannus_,
_Maleevosaurus_) are among the very last of the dinosaurs. The earliest
undisputed tyrannosaurid is (IIRC) _Alectrosaurus_ -- medium-sized (again,
IIRC). There are a number of possible, earlier tyrannosauroids, some
(_Iliosuchus_) very small, none very large. None are definite, but you
can find them at http://dinosaur.umbc.edu/taxa/tyrannos.htm

--T. Michael Keesey
tkeese1@gl.umbc.edu | THE DINOSAURICON: http://dinosaur.umbc.edu/
AOL IM:   RicBlayze | WORLDS:    http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~tkeese1/