Dino card No. 0138 of 2,027

Appalachiosaurus

Say it: AP-uh-LAY-chee-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Appalachian lizard”1

Ate: MeatTyrannosaursLate Cretaceous

Appalachiosaurus was a meat-eating dinosaur that lived in eastern North America during the Late Cretaceous. It was a close cousin of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, but it was smaller and lived earlier. Only a young skeleton has been found, so scientists are still guessing how big the grown-ups were.1

Lived

86 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, USA1 2

Food

Meat1

Length

6.5 m1

juvenile specimen; adult size unknown

Weight

623 kg1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 21 big dogs

as long as 6 dogs nose to tailas long as 36 bananas end to endas heavy as 120 watermelons

How big was Appalachiosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Appalachiosaurus is the only known tyrannosauroid dinosaur that lived east of the Western Interior Seaway, in a region called Appalachia.1

The only skeleton found is from a juvenile, about 6.5 metres (21 feet) long and weighing 623 kilograms (1,373 pounds). An adult would have been much bigger.1

It had a row of six low crests on top of its snout, similar to the Asian tyrannosaur Alioramus.1

Two vertebrae in its tail were fused together, possibly from an injury that healed.1

The arms of Appalachiosaurus are poorly known, but scientists think they were short with only two fingers, like in larger tyrannosaurs.1

Its fossils were found in the Demopolis Chalk Formation in Alabama, which was once the bottom of a shallow sea.1

AI-made picture of Appalachiosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Appalachiosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Appalachiosaurus

?How big was Appalachiosaurus?

The only skeleton found is a juvenile about 6.5 metres (21 feet) long and weighing 623 kilograms (1,373 pounds). An adult would have been significantly larger, but scientists do not know exactly how big.1 3

?What did Appalachiosaurus eat?

It was a meat-eating predator that ate other dinosaurs. It had a strong bite but probably didn't crush bones like T. rex, instead it tore flesh from its prey.3

?Did Appalachiosaurus have feathers?

The sources don't say whether Appalachiosaurus had feathers. Many tyrannosauroids are thought to have had some feathers, but no direct evidence has been found for this species.1

?How fast could Appalachiosaurus run?

Scientists estimate it could run at about 13 km/h (8 mph) when chasing prey in forests, but it may have been an ambush predator that waited for prey to come close.3

?Was Appalachiosaurus bigger than T. rex?

No, Appalachiosaurus was much smaller than T. rex. The juvenile was only 6.5 metres long, and even a full-grown adult would have been smaller than T. rex, which could reach over 12 metres.1 3

?When did Appalachiosaurus live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 80 to 76 million years ago.3 1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some early reconstructions showed Appalachiosaurus with long arms and three fingers.

Truth: No arm bones have actually been found, but scientists now think its arms were short with only two fingers, like other advanced tyrannosaurs.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Appalachiosaurus
Named by: Carr et al. 20054
Group: Tyrannosaurs
Family / clade: Tyrannosauroidea4
Classification: Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea4
Age of the rocks: 86 to 66 million years (Santonian / Maastrichtian)4
Rock formations: Blufftown, Demopolis Chalk, Coachman4
Countries: USA4
Fossil records: 6 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: The first fossil was found by geologist David King in July 1982 in Alabama. It was named Appalachiosaurus montgomeriensis by paleontologists Thomas Carr and Thomas Williamson in 2005.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure how big a full-grown Appalachiosaurus was, because only a juvenile skeleton has been found.1

Where the facts come from

Appalachiosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Dinosaurs - Appalachiosaurus montgomeriensis - The Australian Museum (australian.museum)
Appalachiosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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