Tyrant Dinosaur Evolution Tracks the Rise and Fall of Late Cretaceous Oceans

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2013 Nov 14

PMID 24223179

Citations 42

Authors

Mark A Loewen

Randall B Irmis

Joseph J W Sertich

Philip J Currie

Scott D Sampson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The Late Cretaceous (∼95-66 million years ago) western North American landmass of Laramidia displayed heightened non-marine vertebrate diversity and intracontinental regionalism relative to other latest Cretaceous Laurasian ecosystems. Processes generating these patterns during this interval remain poorly understood despite their presumed role in the diversification of many clades. Tyrannosauridae, a clade of large-bodied theropod dinosaurs restricted to the Late Cretaceous of Laramidia and Asia, represents an ideal group for investigating Laramidian patterns of evolution. We use new tyrannosaurid discoveries from Utah--including a new taxon which represents the geologically oldest member of the clade--to investigate the evolution and biogeography of Tyrannosauridae. These data suggest a Laramidian origin for Tyrannosauridae, and implicate sea-level related controls in the isolation, diversification, and dispersal of this and many other Late Cretaceous vertebrate clades.

Citing Articles

A brief review of non-avian dinosaur biogeography: state-of-the-art and prospectus.

Upchurch P, Chiarenza A Biol Lett. 2024; 20(10):20240429.

PMID: 39471833 PMC: 11529633. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0429.

Morphological evolution and functional consequences of giantism in tyrannosauroid dinosaurs.

Rowe A, Rayfield E iScience. 2024; 27(9):110679.

PMID: 39262785 PMC: 11387897. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110679.

The first deep-snouted tyrannosaur from Upper Cretaceous Ganzhou City of southeastern China.

Zheng W, Jin X, Xie J, Du T Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):16276.

PMID: 39054316 PMC: 11272791. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66278-5.

gen. et sp. nov. (Ceratopsidae: Centrosaurinae) from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Montana reveals rapid regional radiations and extreme endemism within centrosaurine dinosaurs.

Loewen M, Sertich J, Sampson S, OConnor J, Carpenter S, Sisson B PeerJ. 2024; 12:e17224.

PMID: 38912046 PMC: 11193970. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17224.

A giant tyrannosaur from the Campanian-Maastrichtian of southern North America and the evolution of tyrannosaurid gigantism.

Dalman S, Loewen M, Pyron R, Jasinski S, Malinzak D, Lucas S Sci Rep. 2024; 13(1):22124.

PMID: 38212342 PMC: 10784284. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47011-0.

References

Li D, Norell M, Gao K, Smith N, Makovicky P . A longirostrine tyrannosauroid from the Early Cretaceous of China. Proc Biol Sci. 2009; 277(1679):183-90. PMC: 2842666. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.0249. View

Sereno P, Tan L, Brusatte S, Kriegstein H, Zhao X, Cloward K . Tyrannosaurid skeletal design first evolved at small body size. Science. 2009; 326(5951):418-22. DOI: 10.1126/science.1177428. View

Barrett P, McGowan A, Page V . Dinosaur diversity and the rock record. Proc Biol Sci. 2009; 276(1667):2667-74. PMC: 2686664. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.0352. View

Ruta M, Wagner P, Coates M . Evolutionary patterns in early tetrapods. I. Rapid initial diversification followed by decrease in rates of character change. Proc Biol Sci. 2006; 273(1598):2107-11. PMC: 1635524. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3577. View

Xu X, Wang K, Zhao X, Sullivan C, Chen S . A new leptoceratopsid (Ornithischia: Ceratopsia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shandong, China and its implications for neoceratopsian evolution. PLoS One. 2010; 5(11):e13835. PMC: 2973951. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013835. View

Carr T, Williamson T, Britt B, Stadtman K . Evidence for high taxonomic and morphologic tyrannosauroid diversity in the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian) of the American Southwest and a new short-skulled tyrannosaurid from the Kaiparowits Formation of Utah. Naturwissenschaften. 2011; 98(3):241-6. DOI: 10.1007/s00114-011-0762-7. View

Nesbitt S, Smith N, Irmis R, Turner A, Downs A, Norell M . A complete skeleton of a Late Triassic saurischian and the early evolution of dinosaurs. Science. 2009; 326(5959):1530-3. DOI: 10.1126/science.1180350. View

Brusatte S, Carr T, Erickson G, Bever G, Norell M . A long-snouted, multihorned tyrannosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009; 106(41):17261-6. PMC: 2765207. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0906911106. View

Sampson S, Lund E, Loewen M, Farke A, Clayton K . A remarkable short-snouted horned dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian) of southern Laramidia. Proc Biol Sci. 2013; 280(1766):20131186. PMC: 3730592. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.1186. View

10.

Ree R, Moore B, Webb C, Donoghue M . A likelihood framework for inferring the evolution of geographic range on phylogenetic trees. Evolution. 2006; 59(11):2299-311. View

11.

Barnosky A, Carrasco M, Davis E . The impact of the species-area relationship on estimates of paleodiversity. PLoS Biol. 2005; 3(8):e266. PMC: 1175821. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0030266. View

12.

Fowler D, Woodward H, Freedman E, Larson P, Horner J . Reanalysis of "Raptorex kriegsteini": a juvenile tyrannosaurid dinosaur from Mongolia. PLoS One. 2011; 6(6):e21376. PMC: 3126816. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021376. View

13.

Ree R, Smith S . Maximum likelihood inference of geographic range evolution by dispersal, local extinction, and cladogenesis. Syst Biol. 2008; 57(1):4-14. DOI: 10.1080/10635150701883881. View

14.

Brusatte S, Benton M, Ruta M, Lloyd G . Superiority, competition, and opportunism in the evolutionary radiation of dinosaurs. Science. 2008; 321(5895):1485-8. DOI: 10.1126/science.1161833. View

15.

Haq B, Hardenbol J, Vail P . Chronology of fluctuating sea levels since the triassic. Science. 1987; 235(4793):1156-67. DOI: 10.1126/science.235.4793.1156. View

16.

Brusatte S, Norell M, Carr T, Erickson G, Hutchinson J, Balanoff A . Tyrannosaur paleobiology: new research on ancient exemplar organisms. Science. 2010; 329(5998):1481-5. DOI: 10.1126/science.1193304. View

17.

Gates T, Prieto-Marquez A, Zanno L . Mountain building triggered late cretaceous North American megaherbivore dinosaur radiation. PLoS One. 2012; 7(8):e42135. PMC: 3410882. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042135. View

18.

Sampson S, Loewen M, Farke A, Roberts E, Forster C, Smith J . New horned dinosaurs from Utah provide evidence for intracontinental dinosaur endemism. PLoS One. 2010; 5(9):e12292. PMC: 2929175. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012292. View

19.

Miller K, Kominz M, Browning J, Wright J, Mountain G, Katz M . The Phanerozoic record of global sea-level change. Science. 2005; 310(5752):1293-8. DOI: 10.1126/science.1116412. View

20.

Felsenstein J . CONFIDENCE LIMITS ON PHYLOGENIES: AN APPROACH USING THE BOOTSTRAP. Evolution. 2017; 39(4):783-791. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1985.tb00420.x. View