Tarbosaurus

Tarbosaurus; Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian), Possible Campanian record
	Skeleton on exhibit in Maryland Science Center
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Family:	†Tyrannosauridae
Subfamily:	†Tyrannosaurinae
Clade:	†Tyrannosaurini
Genus:	†Tarbosaurus; Maleev, 1955b
Type species
	†Tarbosaurus bataar; Maleev, 1955a
Synonyms
	Genus synonymy Shanshanosaurus ; Dong, 1977 ; Maleevosaurus ; Carpenter, 1992 ; Jenghizkhan ; Olshevsky, 1995 ; Species synonymy Tyrannosaurus bataar ; Maleev, 1955a ; Gorgosaurus novojilovi ; Maleev, 1955b ; Tarbosaurus efremovi ; Maleev, 1955b ; Gorgosaurus lancinator ; Maleev, 1955b ; Deinodon novojilovi ; (Maleev, 1955b) Kuhn, 1965 ; Deinodon lancinator ; (Maleev, 1955b) Kuhn, 1965 ; Aublysodon lancinator ; (Maleev, 1955b) Charig, 1967 ; Aublysodon novojilovi ; (Maleev, 1955b) Charig, 1967 ; Shanshanosaurus huoyanshanensis ; Dong, 1977 ; Tyrannosaurus efremovi ; (Maleev, 1955b) Rozhdestvensky, 1977 ; Tarbosaurus novojilovi ; (Maleev, 1955b) Olshevsky, 1978 ; Aublysodon huoyanshanensis ; (Dong, 1977) Paul, 1988a ; Albertosaurus novojilovi ; (Maleev, 1955b) Mader & Bradley, 1989 ; Maleevosaurus novojilovi ; (Maleev, 1955b) Carpenter, 1992 ; Jenghizkhan bataar ; (Maleev, 1955a) Olshevsky, 1995 ; Tyrannosaurus novojilovi ; (Maleev, 1955b) Glut, 1997 ; ?Raptorex kriegsteini ; Sereno et al., 2009 ;

Tarbosaurus (/ˌtɑːrbəˈsɔːrəs/ TAR-bə-SOR-əs; meaning "alarming lizard") is a genus of tyrannosaurine theropod dinosaur that lived in Asia about 70 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian age at the end of the Late Cretaceous period, considered to contain a single known species: Tarbosaurus bataar. Fossils have been recovered from the Nemegt and Djadochta Formations of Mongolia, with more fragmentary remains found further afield in China.

Although many species have been named, modern paleontologists recognize only one species, T. bataar. Some experts see this species as an Asian representative of the North American genus Tyrannosaurus, which would make the genus Tarbosaurus redundant. Tarbosaurus and Tyrannosaurus, if not synonymous, are considered to be very closely related genera. Alioramus, also from Mongolia, has previously been thought by some authorities to be the closest relative of Tarbosaurus, though this has since been disproven with the discovery of Qianzhousaurus and the description of the tyrannosaurine tribe Alioramini.

Like most known tyrannosaurids, Tarbosaurus was a large bipedal predator, with the type specimen measuring approximately 10 metres (33 ft) long, 3 metres (9.8 ft) tall at the hips, and weighing up to 4.5–5 metric tons (5.0–5.5 short tons). It had a unique locking mechanism in its jaw, equipped with about sixty large teeth, and the smallest arms relative to body size of all tyrannosaurids, renowned for their disproportionately tiny, two-fingered hands.

Tarbosaurus lived in a humid floodplain dominated by deserts, forests and plains, and criss-crossed by river channels. In this environment, it was an apex predator preying on other large dinosaurs, like hadrosaurids, such as Saurolophus and Barsboldia, and maybe even sauropods, such as Nemegtosaurus. Tarbosaurus is represented by dozens of fossil specimens, including several complete skulls and skeletons. These remains have allowed scientific studies focusing on its phylogeny, skull mechanics, and brain structure.

^ Mortimer, M (2004). "Tyrannosauroidea". The Theropod Database. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2007.
^ Weishampel, David B.; Barrett, Paul M.; Coria, Rodolfo A.; Le Loueff, Jean; Xu, Xing; Zhao, Xijin; Sahni, Ashok; Gomani, Emily M. P.; Noto, Christopher N. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (Second ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 596–598. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8.

[Mortimer_2004-1] Mortimer, M (2004). "Tyrannosauroidea". The Theropod Database. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2007.

[2] Weishampel, David B.; Barrett, Paul M.; Coria, Rodolfo A.; Le Loueff, Jean; Xu, Xing; Zhao, Xijin; Sahni, Ashok; Gomani, Emily M. P.; Noto, Christopher N. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (Second ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 596–598. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8.

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