农民发现被称为“死神”的雷克斯霸王龙的新表亲

While on a hike near their home in Alberta, John De Groot and his wife, Sandra, unearthed the well-preserved jawbones of an entirely new tyrannosaur species that scientists have dubbed the “Reaper of Death.”

约翰·德·格鲁特(John De Groot)和妻子桑德拉(Sandra)在阿尔伯塔省(Alberta)的家附近徒步旅行时，发现了一种保存完好的全新暴龙物种的颚骨。科学家们将这种恐龙称为“死神”。

At an estimated 79.5 million years old, Thanatotheristes degrootorum — a cousin of the T. rex — is the oldest known fossil of the tyrannosaur kind ever found in North America, according to the University of Calgary and Royal Tyrrell Museum.

据卡尔加里大学和皇家泰瑞尔博物馆的资料显示，霸王龙的表亲——Thanatotheristes degrootorum是迄今为止在北美发现的最古老的霸王龙化石，估计有7950万年的历史。

Dr. François Therrien, curator of Dinosaur Palaeoecology, said in a statement on the museum’s blog, “We are thrilled to announce the first new species of tyrannosaur to be discovered in Canada in 50 years.”

恐龙古生态学馆长弗朗索瓦·瑟林博士在博物馆的博客上发表声明说:“我们激动地宣布，50年来在加拿大发现的第一个暴龙新物种。”

In a report published in the journal Cretaceous Research, researchers described the new species as an “apex predator” that measured around 26-feet long and grew serrated teeth to almost 3-inches long. Its genus name is inspired by Thanatos, the Greek god of death, and combined with the Greek word for reaper, “theristes.” The new “degrootorum” species honors De Groot, the humble farmer and paleontology enthusiast.

在《白垩纪研究》杂志上发表的一份报告中，研究人员将这种新物种描述为一种“顶端捕食者”，体长约26英尺，锯齿状的牙齿长到近3英寸长。它的属名是受希腊死神Thanatos的启发，并与希腊死神theristes相结合。这个新的“退化动物”物种是为了纪念德格鲁特，一个卑微的农民和古生物学家。

“It definitely would have been quite an imposing animal,” lead researcher Jared Voris, of the University of Calgary, told Live Science. “Roughly 8 feet [tall] at the hips.”

卡尔加里大学的首席研究员贾里德·沃利斯在接受《生活科学》杂志采访时表示:“这绝对是一种令人印象深刻的动物。”“臀部大约8英尺(高)。”

Voris also pointed out what makes this tyrannosaur particularly unique. “These ridges are not like anything we’ve ever seen before in other tyrannosaur species,” he said. “Exactly what the ridges do, we’re not quite sure.”

沃利斯还指出了是什么让这只暴龙如此独特。他说:“这些脊背与我们以前在其他暴龙物种身上看到的任何东西都不一样。”“这些脊背到底有什么作用，我们不是很确定。”

It took a decade for the rare fossils to be verified after John and Sandra found the bones on the shore of Alberta’s Bow River.

约翰和桑德拉在阿尔伯塔省的波河岸边发现了这些罕见的化石，之后花了十年时间才得以证实。

“The jawbone was an absolutely stunning find,” said John. “We knew it was special because you could clearly see the fossilized teeth.”

约翰说:“这块颌骨的发现绝对令人震惊。”“我们知道它很特别，因为可以清楚地看到牙齿化石。”

Scientists believe the T. degrootorum enjoyed a high rank on the food chain, as most other dinosaurs found in that region were plant-eaters. But it wasn’t as big as his famous relative the T. rex, which didn’t arrive in the Cretaceous period until about 12 million years later, according to the University of Edinburgh’s Steve Brusatte, who was not involved in the study.

科学家们认为T. degrootorum在食物链中享有很高的地位，因为在那个地区发现的大多数其他恐龙都是食草恐龙。但它没有他著名的亲戚霸王龙那么大，据爱丁堡大学(University of Edinburgh)的史蒂夫·布鲁萨特(Steve Brusatte)说，霸王龙在大约1200万年后的白垩纪才出现。布鲁萨特没有参与这项研究。

He told Live Science this discovery demonstrates that tyrannosaurs “weren’t all colossal hypercarnivores like T. rex, but there were many subgroups that had their own domains and their own unique body types and probably hunting styles.”

他告诉《生活科学》，这一发现表明暴龙“并不都是像雷克斯霸王龙那样的巨型超级食肉动物，但也有很多分支，它们有自己的领域，有自己独特的体型，可能还有狩猎方式。”