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T-rex was invasive
Topic Started: Mar 2 2016, 12:50 PM (701 Views)
BossMan, Jake
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Son of God

http://news.discovery.com/animals/dinosaurs/t-rex-was-likely-an-invasive-species-160302.htm

Honestly this is a little hard to take in seeing as how the author of this find was the one responsible for saying Nanotyrannus was a separate species from that NatGeo program.

However, it is a nice idea to think about seeing as how any other tyrannosaurs just went extinct at the time T-rex showed up
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CyborgIguana
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IIRC evidence suggests that quite a few dinosaur families in late Cretaceous North America may have originated in Asia (though correct me if I'm wrong), so T. rex would hardly be the only one.
Edited by CyborgIguana, Mar 2 2016, 01:08 PM.
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TheNotFakeDK
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BossMan, Jake
Mar 2 2016, 12:50 PM
Honestly this is a little hard to take in seeing as how the author of this find was the one responsible for saying Nanotyrannus was a separate species from that NatGeo program.
Both authors, Carr and Brusatte, are of the quite strong opinion that 'Nanotyrannus' is a junior synonym of T. rex, so I don't know where you're getting this from.
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BossMan, Jake
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You sure? Well then who was the one featured in that documentary?
EDIT: Nevermind that's Phil Currie I'm thinking about lol
Edited by BossMan, Jake, Mar 2 2016, 02:47 PM.
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Incinerox
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I'll just dump what I said at ZTV here:

Quote:
 
Alright, let me make this real simple for yas.

Asia is where the tyrannosauroids began. Very bland coelurosaurs, smallish, three fingered, glrofied compie-like, you know the drill. Some ended up as proceratosaurids in the North, and megaraptorids in the south. They aren't relevant. Moving on.

They stayed in Asia and Europe for the most part. They got larger, got faster, arms shrank, you got various forms like Yutyrannus as a larger representative of basal tyrants, and slightly more derived Alioramini (sister clade to the Tyrannosauridae proper). Asia was their hub for the longest time while North America was dominated by carnosaurs and dromaeosaurids. The Bering Land Bridge happened and the lightweight tyrannosauroids crossed over as immigrants to Laramidia.

From there they spread across the continent like wildfire, and with the carnosaurs out of the picture and dromaeosaurids too small to challenge them, tyrannosauroids ascended to the top of the food chain, turning these lightweight sprinters into increasingly large predators. They split into Albertosaurines and Tyrannosaurines. Albertosaurines were fairly short lived during the early Late Cretaceous, and of the two were more true to their basal forms - slim, compact, very good sprinters (but still substantially more heavyweight than the likes of Qianzhousaurus). Tyrannosaurines just got more massive. Now, this clade originated in America itself. You can actually track the evolutionary chain with the likes of Teratophoneus, Bistahieversor Lythronax, Daspletosaurus and stuff (not necessarily in that order, I'll have to double check). But while some stayed and took over as some of the most impressive theropods to ever stalk the planet (ie. T. rex), others actually returned BACK into Asia, becoming your Zhuchengtyrannus and Tarbosaurus, and your Kazakhstani tyrannosaurine (probably).

If anything, the end-Cretaceous Asian tyrants were an invasive species from America.


Slightly modified from the source post.




Side note: The paleontologist behind the Nat Geo atrocities regarding Nanotyrannus is Peter Larson. Honestly I find his practices and scientific ethic to be an absolute disgrace - He's basically the reason we lost the death match T. rex specimen to private collectors. The Nat Geo documentary was basically his way of advertising the specimen for the auctions, and the whole thing was rigged anyway - pay note to how the likes of Carr, Currie, Holtz and Horner don't show up to make a case AGAINST Nano. Not only that, it so conveniently happens after he makes several public comments but no scientific papers about it too. It's like he wanted it out of scientific hands before someone had the chance to discredit his claims. The actions of a desperate man.

He is also the reason why it cost 8 million US dollars (from I believe it was about a dozen sponsors) to bring Sue back into scientific hands. All because once it was found that Sue was uncovered on private property, Larson tried to con the landowner into selling it to him for 2000 USD, and he ended up losing the resulting court case.
Edited by Incinerox, Mar 2 2016, 03:02 PM.
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TheNotFakeDK
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Incinerox
Mar 2 2016, 02:52 PM
The Nat Geo documentary was basically his way of advertising the specimen for the auctions, and the whole thing was rigged anyway - pay note to how the likes of Carr, Currie, Holtz and Horner don't show up to make a case AGAINST Nano.
To add insult to injury, Holtz—and possibly others, I can't quite recall—were actually brought in during production to speak about 'Nanotyrannus' and at the least advised caution in calling it a distinct genus. His/their interviews were cut from the final product. Hm.
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Furka
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Well a lot of dinosaur families disappeared/became rarer in North America during late Cretaceous. Not just other Tyrannosaurs, Lambeosaurine and Centrosaurine too IIRC. Seems quite a stretch to blame everything on T. rex, considering many ecosystems went under major changes.
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babehunter1324
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Furka
Mar 2 2016, 04:13 PM
Well a lot of dinosaur families disappeared/became rarer in North America during late Cretaceous. Not just other Tyrannosaurs, Lambeosaurine and Centrosaurine too IIRC. Seems quite a stretch to blame everything on T. rex, considering many ecosystems went under major changes.
I agree. The increase on the ecological conectivity of Laramidia after the WIS started to retreat and the subsequent redution of lowland wetlands and humid forests may had been a more likely culprit for the reduction/extinction of many families of Dinosaurs...

That makes me wonder, we do know there was a big difference between the flora of the late Maastritchian in Hell Creek and the Campanian-Lower Maastritchian flora of Horseshoe Cannon. Could changes in flora further contribute to the decline of those groups of Dinosaurs?
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Incinerox
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I suppose a floral change sorta comes with having all the lowland fern plains, conifer forests and boggy regions receding in exchange for an expansive beech forest.

Caused a shift from an Albertosaurine-Lambeosaurine-Centrosaurine-Nodosaurid ecosystem to a Tyrannosaurine-Saurolophine-Chasmosaurine-Ankylosaurine one.
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