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Scientists Discover New Dinosaur Species Related to T. Rex

A new type of dinosaur, which was closely related to the T. rex, has been identified decades after its fossils were first found.

T. rex
Illustration by SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images

Scientists have made a remarkable discovery. Decades-old fossils originally thought to be from an electrosaurus dinosaur have now been found to be a whole new species related to the Tyrannosaurus rex, ABC News reported.

Paleontologists discovered the fossils in question in Mongolia in the 1970s. They were reanalyzed after Jared Voris, a Ph.D student at the University of Calgary, noticed them during a 2023 trip to the country, the outlet reported.

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While looking at the fossils at the Central Museum of Dinosaurs of Mongolia, Voris noticed that the dinosaur’s skull, toes, and nose were not like others in the Tyrannosaurus species he’d previously seen, he told the outlet.

As he realized the potential magnitude of his discovery, Voris texted Darla Zelenitsky, an associate professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary, CBS News reported. Voris told Zelenitsky that he “thought it could be a new species,” the latter paleontologist told the outlet.

“I said, ‘Great going, keep looking at this so we can be sure this is a new species,’” Zelenitsky recalled to the outlet. 

A New Dinosaur Species Is Discovered

The fossils were thus reexamined. They were then determined to belong to a new tyrannosaurid species, according to paper published in Nature, the outlets reported.

Zelenitsky told ABC News that the new species, named Khankhuuluu mongoliensis, is “relatively small.” An agile runner, the specimen was likely about 1,700 pounds and 13 feet in length, Zelenitsky told the outlet.

The specimen was determined to be an immediate relative of the Eutyrannosaurias, which included T. rex, the outlet reported. It was also a close ancestor to the Tyrannosaurini and the Alioramini, per the outlet.

As such, Zelenitsky told the outlet that the new species is now considered the “missing link” between smaller dinos and massive ones.

Speaking to CBS News, Zelenitsky added, “What really started just as a discovery of a new species ended up with us kind of rewriting a family history of tyrannosaurs.”