Meet Moros Intrepidus, a small tyrannosaur that lived in Utah’s Emery County during the Cretaceous period. At 96 million years old, it is the oldest Cretaceous tyrannosaur species yet discovered in North America. The find narrowed a 70-million-year gap in the tyrant dinosaur record.
And by small, think the size of a mule deer. Moros was only three or four feet tall at the hip. The specimen found was estimated at being over seven years old and nearly full grown. It’s name means “harbinger of doom.”
While medium sized primitive tyrannosaurs have been found in North America dating from the Jurassic period, (around 150 million years ago), the iconic Tyrannosaurus Rex showed up in the Cretaceous period (around 81 million years ago).