Dinotyrannus

terrible tyrant

• dino- · Greek · terrible, fearsome
• tyrannus · Latin (from Greek tyrannos) · tyrant

Dinotyrannus combines Greek "deinos" (terrible, fearsome) with Latin "tyrannus" (tyrant, from Greek "tyrannos"). It was a new genus name for a tyrannosaurid that had earlier been described as a species of Tyrannosaurus, and the name emphasises its identity as a fearsome tyrant king, echoing Tyrannosaurus.

Named by

Olshevsky and Ford

Year named

1995

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Maastrichtian

Found in

Hell Creek Formation, Montana, USA

Dinotyrannus (type species D. megagracilis) is generally regarded as a junior synonym, usually of Tyrannosaurus, based on a young individual. Some researchers have instead linked the material to Nanotyrannus, so its exact synonymy is debated. Details such as the exact specimen are not given here because I am not fully certain of them.