The fossil remains of a new species of carnivorous dinosaur have been discovered in the western United States by a group of paleontologists from North Carolina State University. The bones belong to a specimen of ten meters high and four tons, which would have populated the Earth 98 million years ago, imposing itself as the largest predator in the ecosystem until the appearance of the Tyrannosaurus Rex at the end of the Cretaceous period.
This new species, baptized as Siats Meekerorum , is part of the group of giant carnivores Carcharodontosaurus , of which only two specimens have been identified. The first was also found in North America 63 years ago and dates back 10 million years before the newly discovered reptile.
Despite their exorbitant dimensions, the bones correspond to a young specimen. Paleontologists estimate that an adult dinosaur could reach 12 meters in height and six tons. Its size placed it at the head of the food chain above smaller species of tyrannosaurus . However, the appearance of the Tyrannosaurus Rex , a voracious predator that doubled in weight, ended its hegemony.
The scarcity of fossils prevents paleontologists from determining whether this second species coexisted with the first or became a super-predator after its extinction. The authors of the study, for their part, assert that it was the decline of the Carcharodontosaurus that caused the evolution of the tyrannosaurus.
