New Mexico shinbone suggests giant early tyrannosaur

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      "link": "https://www.sciencealert.com/giant-tyrannosaur-discovered-in-north-america-is-the-largest-of-its-era",
      "title": "Giant Tyrannosaur Discovered in North America Is The Largest of Its Era"
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-03-12T16:00:00+00:00",
      "domain": "popsci.com",
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      "link": "https://www.popsci.com/science/large-tyrannosaur-leg-bone/",
      "title": "\u2018Unusually large\u2019 tyrannosaur leg bone points to 10,000-pound behemoth"
    },
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      "date": "2026-03-12T16:00:00+00:00",
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      "link": "https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fossil-leg-t-rex-origins-bones-dinosaur",
      "title": "A large fossil leg bone hints at T. rex\u2019s origins, but scientists disagree"
    },
    {
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      "title": "Giant Tyrannosaur Discovered in North America Is The Largest of Its Era - ScienceAlert"
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  "heading_level": 1,
  "historical_background": "Tyrannosaurs diversified through the Late Cretaceous, with Tyrannosaurus rex appearing late in the period (about 68\u201366 million years ago) [common]. Fossils from the Campanian (roughly 83\u201372 million years ago) capture earlier tyrannosaur relatives, so unusually large specimens from this interval can reshape ideas about when gigantism evolved in the group and how quickly big-bodied forms spread across continents [common].",
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  "item_category": "Paleontology",
  "key_players": [],
  "location": "Kirtland Formation, NM, USA",
  "number_of_titles": 4,
  "perspectives": [
    {
      "sources": [
        {
          "name": "Popular Science",
          "url": "https://www.popsci.com/science/large-tyrannosaur-leg-bone/"
        }
      ],
      "text": "Study co-authors (New Mexico Museum of Natural History \u0026 Science): They argue the tibia\u2019s size and geological context indicate an exceptionally large tyrannosaur in New Mexico in the Late Campanian and that the specimen may inform early tyrannosaur evolution in North America."
    },
    {
      "sources": [
        {
          "name": "Science News",
          "url": "https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fossil-leg-t-rex-origins-bones-dinosaur"
        }
      ],
      "text": "Science News coverage: The outlet highlights that researchers disagree about how strongly a single leg bone can support a claim about T. rex\u2019s geographic origins, framing the conclusion as suggestive rather than settled."
    },
    {
      "sources": [
        {
          "name": "ScienceAlert",
          "url": "https://www.sciencealert.com/giant-tyrannosaur-discovered-in-north-america-is-the-largest-of-its-era"
        }
      ],
      "text": "ScienceAlert coverage: The outlet emphasizes the specimen as the oldest reported giant tyrannosaur in North America and frames it as among the largest of its era based on the shinbone analysis."
    }
  ],
  "primary_image": {
    "caption": "Illustration comparing a large tyrannosaur find with the famous T. rex specimen \u201cSue\u201d.",
    "credit": "popsci.com",
    "link": "https://www.popsci.com/science/large-tyrannosaur-leg-bone/",
    "url": "https://kagiproxy.com/img/GwyeQVtPJ40JF1A8INc1WYj09atZuCx_5REsFG-rXkKjfLqJ778VqG5-v-dIqJbkqCSI13Y4yS_XAnb7quFq8y81ng74LHiBvyolLJmS--fyQxiI1erJHNYjYsDS8meMR_ex6_KG5M2Qr4NeuIUVzNtHHsk"
  },
  "published": 1773397500,
  "quote": null,
  "quote_attribution": "Popular Science",
  "quote_author": "Spencer Lucas",
  "scientific_significance": [
    "Evolution of size: If the identification holds, the specimen suggests that near\u2013T. rex-scale body sizes may have emerged before T. rex itself, helping pin down when extreme size evolved in the group [popsci.com#1][sciencealert.com#1].",
    "Fossil-record leverage: Large, well-preserved limb bones can add real weight to the sparse Campanian record of big predators, improving how researchers model diversity and turnover in Late Cretaceous ecosystems [common].",
    "Testable predictions: The find should spur searches for additional, more diagnostic fossils from similarly aged rock layers to learn whether the tibia belongs to an early member of the T. rex line or a separate giant lineage [sciencenews.org#1][common]."
  ],
  "source_urls": [
    "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiogFBVV95cUxQeUhMNVBTdG9OMHRPbTU5Ykp5cHBjNGg2Z1lFYzdpck10R3JFeHpSZjdNSzg1eWFvVHRZTVpVTFFSd25sZklEc2RKQXNGV3YxMHFyTDNxTTV4R3dTN3h6STRPNFpVUFFiYlVzWmJtNVpIZ2tFQjNlRzB3Z05HLUJKVmNQZUF4WmZ3R3ZZdkNlSnRFaWZ6SU1SNWdCZVJyMmgwYkE",
    "https://www.sciencealert.com/giant-tyrannosaur-discovered-in-north-america-is-the-largest-of-its-era",
    "https://www.popsci.com/science/large-tyrannosaur-leg-bone/",
    "https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fossil-leg-t-rex-origins-bones-dinosaur"
  ],
  "suggested_qna": [],
  "summary": "Paleontologists analyzing a fossilized shinbone found in northwestern New Mexico\u2019s Kirtland Formation say it came from an \u201cunusually large\u201d tyrannosaur that lived about 74 million years ago, during the Late Campanian [popsci.com#1][sciencenews.org#1]. The tibia is roughly 3 feet long and about 5 inches in diameter, and coverage says the animal may have rivaled the biggest known Tyrannosaurus rex specimens in size\u2014potentially approaching a roughly 10,000\u2011pound range cited in coverage [popsci.com#1].\n\nThe team also reads the bone as a hint that close relatives or ancestors of T. rex were already in North America earlier than many scientists expected, rather than arriving later from Asia [sciencenews.org#1][sciencealert.com#1]. Other paleontologists quoted in coverage caution that one leg bone can\u2019t settle the lineage\u2019s geographic origins by itself, so the evolutionary angle remains suggestive\u2014and disputed [sciencenews.org#1].",
  "talking_points": [
    "Size benchmark: Popular Science notes the tibia is only slightly smaller than the largest known T. rex specimen, \u201cSue,\u201d giving researchers a rare limb-bone yardstick for giant tyrannosaurs [popsci.com#1].",
    "Floodplain analogy: Co-author Anthony Fiorillo says to picture the area like today\u2019s Gulf Coast\u2014a low-lying floodplain, not a desert [popsci.com#1].",
    "Plant life snapshot: Coverage describes forests and wetlands filled with conifers, flowering plants, ferns, and horsetails [popsci.com#1].",
    "Dinosaur diversity: Fiorillo says those habitats also held horned, armored, and duckbilled dinosaurs alongside the large predator [popsci.com#1].",
    "Where the work appeared: Researchers published the analysis of the New Mexico tibia in Scientific Reports [popsci.com#1]."
  ],
  "technical_details": null,
  "timeline": [],
  "title": "New Mexico shinbone suggests giant early tyrannosaur",
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  "url": "https://www.sciencealert.com/giant-tyrannosaur-discovered-in-north-america-is-the-largest-of-its-era",
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