Alioramus
AL-ee-oh-RAY-mus
"different branch"
Type species Alioramus remotus
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Length
- about 6 m (20 ft)
- Group
- Theropods, Tyrannosauridae
- Found in
- Mongolia and China
- Named by
- Kurzanov 1976
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in meters
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Habitat
It lived on river floodplains in Mongolia. Saurolophus, Therizinosaurus and Tarbosaurus shared the region.
Field notes
About Alioramus
What it was like
Alioramus was a meat-eating tyrannosaurid with a longer, narrower skull than most of its relatives. A row of small bony bumps ran along the top of its snout, and it carried more teeth in its jaws than other tyrannosaurids of similar size. Known fossils belong to young, not-fully-grown animals, so its adult size is not certain, though it likely reached around 6 meters (20 feet) long. Like other tyrannosaurids, it walked on two legs and had small forelimbs.
Its world
Alioramus lived in what is now Mongolia and China between about 72 and 66 million years ago, sharing its floodplain habitat with the much larger predator Tarbosaurus. Other neighbors included the huge, clawed Therizinosaurus, the ostrich-like Gallimimus, and the crested, duck-billed Saurolophus. With Tarbosaurus hunting the same ground, Alioramus, being smaller and lighter, may have targeted different prey to avoid competing directly.
How it was found
Kurzanov named Alioramus in 1976 from fossils recovered in the Nemegt Formation. Only about 3 finds are known, all from young individuals, which is why scientists are still working out how Alioramus relates to other tyrannosaurids, including Tarbosaurus and Qianzhousaurus.
Field gallery
More views of Alioramus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 7
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Alioramus.
The evidence
The science behind Alioramus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- A nearly complete skull of Alioramus altai has a long, slender snout with low bony bumps along the nose.
- Its jaws carry numerous relatively slender teeth.
- Bones from the same individual show that it was still growing.
Borrowed from relatives
- The short, two-fingered hands follow other tyrannosaurids, such as Tarbosaurus.
- Lips covering the teeth are inferred from comparisons with other theropods, including Tyrannosaurus.
Still unknown
- The size and face shape of a fully grown adult.
- Its skin covering and color.
- How it used the bumps on its snout.
Often drawn wrong
- The known skull has low nasal bumps, rather than long, projecting horns.
- Its slender snout should retain its distinctive shape rather than copy the deep jaws of Tarbosaurus.
Discovery timeline
- 1976Named itKurzanov
- 2009New findBrusatte et al.
- 2012Full descriptionBrusatte, Carr & Norell
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Alioramus
Named it
Named Alioramus from a long-snouted skull with a row of bony bumps on its nose.
Noviy pozdnemelovoy karnozavr is Nogon-Tsava, Mongoliya [A new late Mesozoic carnosaur from Nogon-Tsav, Mongolia]. Paleontology and Biostratigraphy of Mongolia. The Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition, Transactions 3: 93-104
No link available
New find
Described Alioramus altai from a young animal with a long skull, numerous teeth and distinctive bony ornaments.
A long-snouted, multihorned tyrannosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106: 17261-17266
Read the paper : A long-snouted, multihorned tyrannosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia (opens in a new tab)Full description
Detailed the skeleton and showed that its unusually slender jaws differed from those of similarly sized Tarbosaurus.
The Osteology of Alioramus, A Gracile and Long-Snouted Tyrannosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 366: 1-197
Read the paper : The Osteology of Alioramus, A Gracile and Long-Snouted Tyrannosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Tyrannosauridae
Sources: Wikidata