Suskityrannus
"coyote tyrant"
- Lived
- 94 to 90 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Nesbitt et al. 2019
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
90 million years ago
Habitat
The Moreno Hill Formation in New Mexico records warm floodplains with conifers, flowering trees and ferns. Nothronychus, Zuniceratops and Jeyawati lived in this region.
Field notes
About Suskityrannus
What it was like
Suskityrannus was a small relative of the tyrannosaurs, roughly the size of a large dog as an adult or near adult. It was lightly built, with long legs and a narrow skull.
It shows what tyrannosaurs looked like before they grew into giants. Some of its features, in the skull and feet, were already like those of the later tyrannosaurs.
Its world
It lived about 94 to 90 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now New Mexico, in the United States. Its bones come from the Moreno Hill Formation, where it shared the land with the therizinosaur Nothronychus, the early horned dinosaur Zuniceratops and the plant eater Jeyawati.
How it was found
Nesbitt and colleagues named Suskityrannus in 2019. The fossil had been found years earlier by a teenager on a dig, and is one of the most complete small tyrannosaur relatives from North America.
Field gallery
More views of Suskityrannus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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 Suskityrannus.
The evidence
The science behind Suskityrannus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Partial skeletons preserve a narrow skull, jaws, backbone, hips and long hind legs.
- The middle bone of the foot is pinched between its neighbors, a feature also found in later tyrannosaurs.
- Thigh-bone tissue shows that a known individual was young and still growing rapidly.
Borrowed from relatives
- A probable coat of simple feathers follows small tyrannosaur relatives such as Dilong.
- Dilong and other early tyrannosaur relatives help fill in the arms and hands in a restoration.
Still unknown
- Its adult size and proportions.
- The complete shape of its arms and hands.
- Its feather coverage and color.
Discovery timeline
- 2004Close relativeXu et al.
- 2019Named itNesbitt et al.
- 2026Its worldCilliers et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Suskityrannus
Close relative
Described Dilong, a small tyrannosaur relative with simple feathers and long arms.
Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids. Nature 431: 680-684
Read the paper : Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids (opens in a new tab)Named it
Described a small tyrannosaur relative with long legs and specialized feet, linking early small predators with the later giant tyrannosaurs.
A mid-Cretaceous tyrannosauroid and the origin of North American end-Cretaceous dinosaur assemblages. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 892-899
Read the paper : A mid-Cretaceous tyrannosauroid and the origin of North American end-Cretaceous dinosaur assemblages (opens in a new tab)Its world
Described fossil leaves from the Moreno Hill Formation, revealing warm floodplain woodlands with flowering plants and conifers.
A new macroflora from the Turonian–Coniacian Moreno Hill Formation, New Mexico, USA. Geobios 97: 13-33
Read the paper : A new macroflora from the Turonian–Coniacian Moreno Hill Formation, New Mexico, USA (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Tyrannosauroidea
Sources: Wikidata