Dino card No. 1772 of 2,027

Teratophoneus

Say it: ter-uh-TOFF-ee-us

Name means: “monstrous murderer”1

Ate: MeatTyrannosaursLate Cretaceous

Teratophoneus was a meat-eating dinosaur with a short, deep skull and a powerful bite. It lived in what is now Utah, USA, about 76 million years ago. This tyrannosaur was smaller than its famous cousin T. rex, but still a scary predator.1

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Kaiparowits Formation, southern Utah, USA1

Food

Meat3 1

Length

6 to 8.7 m1

estimates vary; the holotype was a subadult about 6 m long, but adults may have reached 8.7 m

Weight

667 kg to 2.5 tonnes1

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 1.5 cars

as long as 9 dogs nose to tailas long as 48 bananas end to endas heavy as 83 big dogsas heavy as 500 watermelons

How big was Teratophoneus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Teratophoneus had a shorter skull than many other tyrannosaurs, about 23% shorter than Albertosaurus. This gave it a deeper face and possibly a stronger bite.1

Fossils of four or five Teratophoneus found together suggest they may have hunted in packs. The group included animals aged 4 to 22 years old.1

The first Teratophoneus fossil was a partial skull and skeleton of a subadult. Scientists think it was not fully grown when it died.1

Teratophoneus lived alongside many other dinosaurs, including the horned Kosmoceratops and the duck-billed Parasaurolophus.1

The name Teratophoneus means 'monstrous murderer' in Greek. It was named in 2011 by paleontologist Thomas Carr and his team.1

Teratophoneus was about 1/10th the weight of Tyrannosaurus rex. An adult might have weighed as much as a small car.2

AI-made picture of Teratophoneus — An AI-made picture of how Teratophoneus 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 Teratophoneus

?How big was Teratophoneus?

Scientists have different estimates. A subadult was about 6 meters (20 ft) long and weighed around 667 kg (1,470 lb), while a full-grown adult may have reached 8.7 meters (29 ft) long and weighed up to 2.5 tonnes (2.8 short tons).1

?Did Teratophoneus hunt in packs?

Yes, fossils of four or five Teratophoneus found together suggest they may have been social pack-hunters. The group included animals aged 4 to 22 years old and died together in a possible flood event.1

?What did Teratophoneus eat?

Teratophoneus was a meat-eating predator that likely hunted large dinosaurs like the duck-billed Parasaurolophus and the horned Kosmoceratops. Its deep skull and strong bite helped it take down prey.1

?When did Teratophoneus live?

Teratophoneus lived about 76.5 to 75.5 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period. That is millions of years before T. rex appeared.1

?Where was Teratophoneus found?

All Teratophoneus fossils have been found in the Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah, USA. This area was once a warm, wet floodplain near a large inland sea.1

?How fast could Teratophoneus run?

Nobody knows for sure. As a tyrannosaur, it was probably not a fast runner, but it could likely walk quickly and ambush its prey. No speed estimates have been published.1

Ask Rex about Teratophoneus

Rex only answers questions about this page. 3 questions a day.

Rex is an AI and can make mistakes. He runs on servers in the EU and questions are never saved. Never type your name or other personal things.

Myth buster

Myth: Some people think all tyrannosaurs were huge like T. rex.

Truth: Teratophoneus was much smaller, only about 6 to 8.7 meters long, and had a shorter, deeper skull.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Teratophoneus
Named by: Carr et al. 20113
Group: Tyrannosaurs
Family / clade: Tyrannosauridae3
Classification: Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea > Tyrannosauridae3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)3
Rock formations: Kaiparowits3
Countries: USA3
Fossil records: 3 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Teratophoneus was named in 2011 by Thomas Carr, Thomas Williamson, Brooks Britt, and Ken Stadtman. The fossils were found in the Kaiparowits Formation of Utah.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure why Teratophoneus had such a short skull. It might have helped it bite harder, but the exact reason is still debated.1

Where the facts come from

Teratophoneus (en.wikipedia.org)
Announcing Teratophoneus, the Kaiparowits tyrannosaurine (dml.reptilis.net)
Teratophoneus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

Rex is hungry! Dino Wiki is a dad's project for his dino-loving son, free with no ads. Grown-ups can feed Rex a snack to help keep it online.Feed Rex