Suskityrannus
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Name Meaning | “coyote tyrant” |
| Location | United States (New Mexico) |
| Time Period | c. 90 million years ago (Late Cretaceous) |
| Length | 10 ft (3 m) |
| Weight | 88 lb (40 kg) |
| Locomotion | Biped |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Described | 2019 (Nesbitt et al.) |
| Geological Formation(s) | Moreno Hill |
| Valid Species | Suskityrannus hazelae (type) |
Phylogeny: Dinosauria > Saurischia > Theropoda > Neotheropoda > Tetanurae > Avetheropoda > Coelurosauria > Tyrannosauroidea > Pantyrannosauria
Overview: The first reported fossils of this basal tyrannosaur were unearthed in the late 1990’s, in the state of New Mexico. Recovered bones included parts of the skull, jaws, vertebrae and some limb bones, all dated to around or over ninety million years ago. Originally, the fossils were thought to have come from a dromaeosaurid, or “raptor” dinosaur, but this was soon disproven. It was, for a while, classified as a more generalized coelurosaur, but by the time it was described in 2019, the tyrannosauroid nature of the animal was generally accepted. Informally, the creature was known as the “Zuni tyrannosaur”, referring to New Mexico’s indigenous Zuni people. Suskityrannus would later be given its current, official generic name, which means “coyote tyrant”, partly derived from the language of the Zuni themselves. It both refers to it having been a relative of Tyrannosaurus, as well as to its assumed ecological niche, potentially similar to that of a modern coyote.
Suskityrannus was relatively small as far as its later relatives are concerned, though tyrannosaurs in general evolved from mostly smaller coelurosaurian ancestors. It was a fairly slender animal, with a much narrower skull than more derived tyrannosauroids. Some of its traits, however, do appear to have been more derived. For instance, its foot and ankle anatomy was much more like that of later tyrannosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus, than what we see in earlier tyrannosaurs. In a way, it filled a gap within the larger tyrannosauroid evolutionary tree, being more derived than Guanlong or Stokesosaurus, but less so than Timurlengia, Dryptosaurus or the true tyrannosaurids. We can assume it had slightly longer arms than its later kin, however, as well as three digits. It may also be possible that Suskityrannus retained the proto-feathers seen on many basal tyrannosaurs. Known from the Moreno Hill Formation, it may’ve coexisted with Zuniceratops and Nothronychus.