Timurlengia
Timurlengia was a midsized tyrannosaur that lived about 90 million years ago in what is now Uzbekistan. It was not as huge as T. rex, but it already had a very advanced brain and excellent hearing. This dinosaur helps scientists understand how tyrannosaurs grew from small hunters into giant apex predators.1
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Fun facts
Timurlengia's name comes from the 14th‑century ruler Timurleng (also called Tamerlane) and the Greek word for 'well‑eared'.1
Its scientific species name 'euotica' means 'well‑eared' because its inner ear was large and had strong semicircular canals.1
Timurlengia lived during a 20‑million‑year gap in the fossil record when tyrannosaurs were changing from small hunters into giant predators.1
The only known fossil of Timurlengia is a well‑preserved braincase, which shows it already had the advanced brain and senses of later tyrannosaurs.1
Unlike T. rex, Timurlengia had not yet grown to giant size or developed the extensive air‑filled spaces in its skull.1
Timurlengia was a tyrannosauroid, a group of dinosaurs that includes the famous Tyrannosaurus rex.7
Most asked questions about Timurlengia
?How big was Timurlengia?
About 3 to 4 metres long and weighed around 170 to 270 kilograms. That is about the size of a horse.45
?Was Timurlengia bigger than T. rex?
No, Timurlengia was much smaller. T. rex was many times larger and heavier.4
?What did Timurlengia eat?
It was a meat eater that hunted large plant eaters, especially early duck billed dinosaurs. It had blade like teeth for slicing meat.54
?Could Timurlengia hear well?
Yes, it had excellent hearing for low frequency sounds, which is why its species name means 'well eared'.46
?When did Timurlengia live?
It lived about 90 million years ago, during the early Late Cretaceous period.45
?Is Timurlengia a dinosaur?
Yes, it is a dinosaur. It belongs to the group called tyrannosauroids, which includes T. rex.4
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Timurlengia
- Named by
- Brusatte et al. 20167
- Group
- Tyrannosaurs
- Family / clade
- Tyrannosauroidea7
- Classification
- Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea7
- Age of the rocks
- 94 to 90 million years (Turonian)7
- Rock formations
- Bissekty7
- Countries
- Uzbekistan7
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database7
- Discovery
- Timurlengia was named in 2016 by a team including paleontologist Stephen Brusatte. The main fossil, a braincase, was found in the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan.71
- Still debated
- Scientists still debate exactly how Timurlengia is related to other tyrannosaurs, because only a braincase and a few other bones have been found.1
Where the facts come from
- pnas.org (pnas.org)
- Timurlengia (Wikipedia) (Wikipedia)
- New tyrannosaur from the mid-Cretaceous of Uzbekistan clarifies evolution of giant body sizes and advanced senses in tyrant dinosaurs - PMC (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Timurlengia (en.wikipedia.org)
- si.edu (si.edu)
- ‘Missing Link’ in Tyrannosaur Family Tree Discovered | National Geographic (nationalgeographic.com)
- Timurlengia 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.
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