[D] Albertosaurus sarcophagus [Su] [T]
Describer
Osborn, 1905
Time
Cretaceous Late Campanian Maastrichtian
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda Tyrannosauria Tyrannosauridae Tyrannosaurinae Albertosaurini
Diet
Carnivore
Fossilsite
Judith River Formation, (Wedge) Montana, ?Lance Formation, Wyoming, US; Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Alberta, Canada
Fall Under
Albertosaurus
Length
8 meter
Info
Typespecies - Skull
Albertosaurus = ?Deinodon (Leidy, 1856) Albertosaurus > Albertosaurus incrassatus (Cope, 1876 vide Huene, 1932) >> Laelaps incrassatus (Cope, 1876) ?Deinodon horridus ((Leidy, 1856) ? Laelaps falculus (Cope, 1876) ?Lealaps hazeniasus (Cope, 1876) ?Dryptosaurus kenabekides (Hay, 1899) Albertosaurus > A.sarcophagus (Osborn, 1905) >> A. arctunguis (Parks, 1928)
2 fragmentary skulls with associated postcranial skeletons. Valid species of the genus Albertosaurus (by monotype); senior subjective synonym of A. arctunguis, as established by Dale Alan Russell in 1970; renamed Deinodon sarcophagus by William Diller Matthew and Barnum Brown in 1922 and Dryptosaurus sacrophagus (in error) by Oskar Kuhn in 1939; renamed Albertosaurus incrassatus by Friedrich von Huene in 1932, who considered it the same species as Laelaps incrassatus, described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1876.
General discription: Albertosaurus sacrophagus was a large carnivorous dinosaur that stalked across western Canada some 5 to 8 million years before the end of the Mesozoic Era. Like other tyrannosaurids, it had very small, didactyl forelimbs; a large skull on a thick, muscular neck; and powerful jaws armed with large, serrated teeth.
Holotype: (CMN 5600) premaxilla, maxilla, jugal, prefrontal, braincase, palatal bones, dentary, anterior surangular, splenial (Lambe 1903, Lambe 1904) Paratype: (CMN 5601) incomplete skull, lower jaws (dentary 320 mm), fragments of sacral vertebrae, ilium, distal tibia, astragalus, metatarsal IV, 3 pedal unguals (Lambe 1903, Lambe 1904)
Eberth and McCrea 2001, 2002 reported on an Albertosaurus sarcophagus bonebed first discovered on august, 10, 1910 by Barnum Brown and Peter Kaisen in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation. of Alberta, Canada. Currie noted that A. sarcophagus specimens recovered from from this quarry comprise at least seven articulated sets of metatarsals, some which of which are associated with phalanges and other limb bones (AMNH 5218, AMNH 5229 and 5218, AMNH 5233 and 5218, AMNH 5234 and 5218, AMNH 5228 and 5218, AMNH 5235 and 5218, AMNH 5231 and 5218, AMNH 5232, 522, 5227 and 5218, and AMNH 5218. Other materials catalogued as AMNH 5218 and AMNH 5220 are possible referable to the same individuals or one or two additional individuals. Elements collectes from this bonebed suggest the presence of about nine individuals.