Huge breaking news for the dinosaur world: Scientists at NC State University helped conclude that a fossil specimen at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh is part of a distinct group of the tyrannosaur family.
“This is the biggest dinosaur discovery of the decade, and I am proud that it is happening right here in North Carolina,” Governor Josh Stein said in a release. “North Carolina’s public universities and public museums are continuously on the forefront of scientific research and advancement.”
Paleontologists at the museum’s SECU DinoLab have been studying the pair of exquisitely preserved, 67-million-year-old specimens called the “Dueling Dinosaurs” after their acquisition by the museum in 2020.
The lab’s first major research finding was announced publicly today, overturning what officials say is a widely accepted scientific consensus on tyrannosaurs persisting for more than three decades.
The Dueling Dinosaurs fossil contains two dinosaurs preserved in a potential predator-prey encounter: a Triceratops and what was thought to be a juvenile tyrannosaur. They were found buried together in the Hell Creek Formation of Montana.
That tyrannosaur is now confirmed to be a fully grown Nanotyrannus lancensis, not a teenage Tyrannosaurus rex, as scientists once believed.
Research now reveals that multiple tyrannosaur species inhabited the same ecosystems in the final million years, before an asteroid impact caused the mass extinction of dinosaurs, according to Lindsay Zanno, head of paleontology at the Museum of Natural Sciences and associate research professor at NC State University, and James Napoli, an anatomist at Stony Brook University in New York. They co-authored the study appearing today in the scientific journal Nature.
“This fossil doesn’t just settle the debate. It flips decades of T. rex research on its head,” said Zanno. “The best part of this discovery is being able to share it with the world. Anyone who wants to see a 100% complete Nanotyrannus can come to the museum, speak directly with the scientific team, and stand next to the real skeleton.”
The Raleigh museum says it runs the world’s only paleontology preparation lab regularly open to the public. Zanno joined the museum and NC State in 2012 after working for 17 years at the Field Museum in Chicago. She has master’s and doctoral degrees in geology from the University of Utah.
David Mildenberg is editor of Business North Carolina. Reach him at dmildenberg@businessnc.com.