Tarbosaurus

From Prehistoric Wiki

Tarbosaurus was a genus of large carnivorous dinosaurs. Tarbosaurus was so closely related to Tyrannosaurus that it has been thought that they were the same genus of dinosaur. Also of interest is the size of Tarbosaurus, while not the biggest theropod, it rivaled or exceeded Tyrannosaurus in size.

[edit] Discovery

Tarbosaurus was discovered in 1955, in Mongolia and named Tyrannosaurus bataar. However, there were noticeable differences in the skull of Tarbosaurus. The name was changed from Tyrannosaurus to Tarbosaurus in 1956. At the discovery site, a Tarbosaurus skull and vertebrae were discovered, and since then, many Tarbosaurus remains, including a few complete skeletons, have been uncovered. It has been suggested that Tarbosaurus actually was a species of Tyrannosaurus, putting the name Tarbosaurus at risk, as Tyrannosaurus was discovered nearly half a century before Tarbosaurus.

The name Tarbosaurus was derrived from the Greek tarbos, meaning "alarm" or "terror" and sauros, meaning "lizard" or "reptile". The species name bataar is actually a misspelled version of the Mongolian baatar, meaning "heroic". The name Tarbosaurus battar translates to "heroic alarming reptile" or "heroic terror lizard".

[edit] Anatomy