Pygmy tyrannosaur roamed the Arctic

Nanuqsaurus hoglundi was nearly 2 metres tall at the hips and 7 metres from snout to tail, about half the size of T rex. Illustration: Karen Carr


The fossilised bones of an ancient beast dug from a rocky bluff in Arctic Alaska are the remains of a new species of pygmy tyrannosaur.

The animal stalked the northern tip of Laramidia, a slender island continent that formed when North America was divided by a stretch of water called the western interior seaway in the Late Cretaceous. Researchers said that fragments of the tyrannosaur's skull and jaws suggested that the creature inhabited the ancient Arctic island around 70m years ago.

Though far smaller than other tyrannosaurs, the adult was still nearly 2 metres tall at the hips, and measured around 7 metres from snout to tail. An adult T. rex could grow to twice the size.

The discovery, reported in the journal PLOS ONE, will help palaeontologists
Pygmy tyrannosaur roamed the Arctic [shared from Weave for Windows Phone]

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/12/pygmy-tyrannosaur-arctic-dinosaur-nanuqsaurus-hoglundi