New Apex Predator Theropod Dino Species Discovered November 29, 2013

Paleontologists announced a major discovery in Paris recently, that of a new species of apex Theropod predator found in North America.   At over 30 feet long and weighing 4 tons, It was one of the greatest land predators on Earth when it lived 100 million years ago.  Scientists found the fossilized remains sticking out from a slope in the Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah in 2008.  It would take two years to slowly remove them from the rocks and cleaned, and two more to analyze the bones to see if in fact this were a new species not yet in the scientific/fossil record, etc.  Scientists named it Siats meekerorum; the genus honors the mythical, cannibalistic monster from Ute tribal lore (the genus name is pronounced “SEE-atch”).

The fact that a new 30-foot Theropod has been discovered is amazing news enough.  But what is even more amazing is that this is the first predatory dino species this size to be discovered in North America in more than six decades.

“It’s been 63 years since a predator of this size has been named from North America,” said Lindsay Zanno, of North Carolina’s State University and Museum of Natural Sciences, in a press release.

“This dinosaur was a colossal predator, second only to the great T. rex and perhaps Acrocanthosaurus in the North American fossil record,” Zanno continued.

Even more significant is that the discovery of a predatory species this size fills in a 30 million-year gap between the extinction of Allosaurs and the maturation of the evolution of the Tyrannosaurs in North America.  True, Carcharodontosaurus was a major predator at this time, too, but the current fossil record indicates it was only around from 100-93 million years ago — much more narrow span of time.  Moreover, its fossils have been found in what used to be the supercontinent Gondwana (specifically, present-day Africa and South America).  The aforementioned Acrocathosaurus was in the same taxonomical family as C. saharicus, and it was found in North America, but its known span of existence, according to current fossil records, was about 116-110 million years ago.

The discovery of this species has shed new light as to which species sat atop of the proverbial pyramid in this given ecosystem in North America some 98 million years ago.  The Tyrannosaurids that did exist at this time were much smaller.  The extinction of Acrocanthosaurus first, and later Siats meekororum dying out, eventually opened up the opportunity for Tyrannosaurids to grow larger into the T-rex that we all know and love today.