A transitional species of Daspletosaurus Russell, 1970 from the Judith River Formation of eastern Montana.

ABSTRACT: Here we describe a new derived tyrannosaurine, Daspletosaurus wilsoni sp. nov., from Judithian strata (~76.5 Ma) intermediate in age between either of the previously described species of this genus. D. wilsoni displays a unique combination of ancestral and derived characteristics, including a cornual process of the lacrimal reduced in height relative to D. torosus and more basal tyrannosaurines, and a prefrontal with a long axis oriented more rostrally than in D. horneri and more derived tyrannosaurines. The description of this taxon provides insight into evolutionary mode in Tyrannosaurinae, lending strength to previous hypotheses of anagenesis within Daspletosaurus and increasing the resolution with which the evolution of this lineage can be reconstruct

SUBMITTER: Warshaw EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9703990 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature