Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
453 / Mesozoic
Thanatotheristes
Thanatotheristes degrootorum
A deep snout with facial ridges marked an early northern tyrannosaurid.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 80 million years ago
- Final stage
- Late Cretaceous
- Geographic range
- Coastal plain · Alberta, Canada
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Thanatotheristes?
Thanatotheristes (Thanatotheristes degrootorum) was an extinct organism known from About 80 million years ago, with a range in Coastal plain · Alberta, Canada.
Life and ecology
It ambushed ceratopsians and hadrosaurs and tore flesh with thick teeth.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Thanatotheristes disappear?
Later tyrannosaurids appeared, but a younger fauna does not by itself show that they replaced this regional branch.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Thanatotheristes?
Partial skulls and jaws preserve diagnostic ridges; the body follows relatives.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS