New tyrannosaur "Dynamoterror dynastes" description from the Menefee Formation, NM
Dynamoterror dynastes and Invictarx zepheryi; Menefee Formation 80 mya; by Brian Engh
Douglas Wolfe, (Zuni Dinosaur Institute for Geosciences), and research partner Andrew McDonald, (Western Science Center), are describing and naming the second new dinosaur species from the Menefee Formation (80my) in New Mexico. The fossils were collected under a BLM permit with the assistance of volunteers from Southwest Paleontology Society (SPS) and students from University of Pennsylvania.
McDonald and Wolfe recently named the new armored dinosaur Invictarx zepheryi on August 25,2018. The two dinosaurs are the first of many discoveries by Wolfe, McDonald, student volunteers, and citizen scientists over the last seven years. Dynamoterror was discovered by volunteer Eric Gutierrez and Brian Watkins and collected by students from University of Pennsylvania and Southwest Paleontological Society under supervision of Wolfe and McDonald.
SPS volunteers Ben Mohler, Kara Kelley and Jenny Borst will be presenting 3 posters with Wolfe and McDonald on the Menefee discoveries at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Albuquerque, NM on October 17-21, 2018. The posters will describe the discovery of new crocodile, turtle, and hadrosaur fossils and our new dinosaurs Invictarx and Dynamoterror.
This research continues Wolfe’s 30 year effort to discover and describe fossils from the “Middle Cretaceous Dinosaur Gap “ (between 95 and 75my) when rising sea covered large areas of the world’s continents, preserving few dinosaur fossil sites. As Principal Investigator for the Zuni Basin Paleontological Project, Wolfe and his team discovered and described the Zuni Basin Dinosaur Fauna: Zuniceratops (oldest horned dinosaur in North America), Nothronychus (first Therizinosaur from North America), and Jeyawatti (a duckbilled dinosaur). The fossil sites have also yielded new species of large early angiosperm (deciduous) trees to be named in an upcoming paper. The research team expects to name a new middle Cretaceous Tyrannosaur from the Zuni Basin in coming months.
Eric Guiterrez, Brian Watkins and University Pennsylvania students Andrew McDonald and Brandon Hedrick collecting Dynamoterror in 2012. Photo by Sherman Mohler.
Southwest Paleontological Society Volunteers Nancy and Bill Ebbinghaus, Ben Mohler and Jake Kudlinski helping collect Dynamoterror in 2012. Photo by Sherman Mohler.
The new paper has been published in the open access science journal PeerJ The name Dynamoterror dynastes can be translated from Latin as “powerful terror ruler.”
The specimen includes the right and left frontal bones from the skull , a metacarpal (a bone from the right hand) , and two pedal phalanges (toe bones from the left foot). The frontals have unique features that distinguish Dynamoterror from all other tyrannosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus rex itself. The specimen is curated by the Natural History Museum of Utah and is currently on loan to the Western Science Center.
Dynamoterror dynastes frontals