Introduction:
Asiatyrannus is the latest, new tyrannosaurine theropod discovered from the Nanxiong Formation of China. The name translates to ‘Asian Tyrant‘ and I feel like you guys would know the meaning every time the word ‘Tyranno‘ comes up and it seems like paleontologists do love the word ‘Tyranno‘ with the meaning, ‘tyrant‘. Now, you might be wondering what is so special about another tyrannosaurine and the reason is that, as the research or discovery of Asian tyrannosaurs is very rare and not so well-studied, unlike the American tyrannosaurs, it is amazing to see new genus of tyrannosaurs being discovered in Asia.
So far, only 14 species from the entire superfamily of tyrannosauroidea with some undetermined species and this dinosaur helps in creating a more complete ecology of Late Cretaceous China with a tyrannosaurine in the mix. Asiatyrannus was probably the last tyrannosaurine of Asia because along the same time, only another tyrannosaurinae, from a different clade existed, Alioramini, was the Qianzhousaurus. Now, that we got to know some bits of info about the Asiatyrannus, let’s learn more about it!
Discovery:
Asiatyrannus was discovered in the Nanxiong Formation in China in the year of 2017, which was a while back and stayed in the museum for quite sometime before Zheng et al. finally researched and described the remains in 2024 and announced it as a new genus. The full name is ‘Asiatyrannus xui‘ and ‘xui‘ meaning the prominent dinosaur researcher, Xu Xing, and his contributions to paleontological research in China.
The remains were mainly of an almost complete and articulated skull along with some tail vertebrae and most of the right and left leg bones. The skull was the dead giveaway that this a tyrannosaur and was not a part of the Alioramini clade as it’s skull was deep-snouted unlike an Alioramini which had a gracile and long snout. Plus, the body was slightly shorter than your average Alioramini, making it even more different as well as showcasing 2 different kinds of tyrannosaurs within a same environment.
Biology:
The discovery of Asiatyrannus does not end there as the remains are not of a fully matured individual which means that it could have grown twice the size it is now. Asiatyrannus measures up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) in height and 4 meters (13 feet) in length and it could grow even bigger than the tyrannosaur it shared its habitat with, the Qianzhousaurus. One thing surprising is that the snout construction matches up closely with an Alaskan tyrannosaurs, Nanuqsaurus. Because of the similarity, they are placed together closely with each other, more like a sister version of Nanuqsaurus.
As for its diet, I am pretty sure you already know that it is a carnivore and it would probably eat lizards, turtles, crocodilians, mammals and any other smaller prey during its juvenile stage and then, when it would fully mature, it would hunt down the larger prey available in the ecosystem. Asiatyrannus would have lived in a temperate weather with a lot of forests and the forests would be inhabited with a lot of Oviraptorids like Banji, Corythoraptor, Ganzhousaurus, Huanansaurus, Jiangxisaurus, Nankangia, Shixinggia, & Tongtianlong. I think that’s a lot of Oviraptorids for a single environment. There would have been other large, unidentified tyrannosaur, a Therizinosaur named Nanshiungosaurus, as well as 2 titanosaurs, Gannansaurus and Jiangxititan. Please do let me know down in the comments if you find any dinosaur from the above list that I should create a post about very soon!
Surprisingly, this ecosystem held three different kinds of Tyrannosaurus and right at the tail end of the Late Cretaceous. This does go to show that dinosaur diversity did not stop at Cretaceous Period as many paleontologists once thought for the reason of dinosaurs going extinct. I know the theory sounds a bit weird and they had this idea back when paleontologists did not find the Chicxulub Crater near Mexico. But now, we can for sure say that dinosaurs became extinct due to the meteor impact and the following natural disasters that came with the meteor impact.
Now you know all there is to know about Asiatyrannus and I would like to thank you for reading till here. I am planning to make my own illustration of an Asiatyrannus and I was wondering which version should I make, juvenile or adult and if you would like to have a dinosaur illustration of your own of any species, you can gladly order me on Fiverr for Dinosaur illustrations.
Media:
Unfortunately, as Asiatyrannus is super new and recently described, there is no media appearance of this dinosaur but with given some time in the future, I believe it will make an appearance in some sort of media like a documentary or game. The cousin on the other hand, Qianzhousaurus, has found some fame in the media like appearing in Prehistoric Planet documentary, Jurassic World Evolution 2 game, as well as Dinosaur Train. I am not at all worried about it not appearing in anything because Tyrannosaurs have a great track record in appearing in some sort of media.
Merchandise:
I also do not want you to leave fully empty-handed and so I checked around the Internet for you to get at least a tyrannosaur themed merch and there is nothing better than the Beasts of Mesozoic, Tyrannosaur Series. They have tons of different Tyrannosaur species for you to get as well as some Asian tyrannosaurs. If you do get them, please mention this blog as where you got recommended from and I would be super glad if you did. And maybe also let them know that you want an Asiatyrannus figure!
And if you want somethings more affordable and something from Jurassic World side of things, here are some links from the Amazon for you to get and I hope to see you again soon in new posts of Prehistoric Pedia.
