Describer

Lambe, 1914

Time

Cretaceous Late Campanian Maastrichtian

Classification

Saurischia Theropoda Tyrannosauria Tyrannosauridae Tyrannosaurinae Albertosaurini

Diet

Carnivore

Fossilsite

Canada US

Typespecies

Gorgosaurus libratus

Length

8 meter

Info

Genus - Skull

Gorgosaurus > Gorgosaurus libratus (Lambe, 1914) >> Albertosaurus libratus (Lambe, 1914) Gorgosaurus > Gorgosaurus sternbergi (Matthew & Brown, 1923) >> Albertosaurus sternbergi (Matthew & Brown, 1923)

\\\\\\\"dragon lizard\\\\\\\" Named for its carnivorous nature. Despite the name, Lambe believed that Gorgosaurus was sluggish and not a quick mover, and that it fed, not on the fresh flesh of animals necessarily of its own killing but rather on carcasses found or stumbled across during its hunger impelled wanderings.\\\\\\\"

In the 1970s, a major study of the family Tyrannosauridae concluded that Gorgosaurus and Albertosaurus were the same genus, and that the only differences between the two were suggested not only by comparisons of dissimilar growth stages, but also by variations between populations. Albertosaurus was named first, so according to the rules of biological nomonclature, its name had priority. However, recent work by Phillip Currie at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology has shown that these two dinosaurs are, in fact, separate and valid genera..

Possible subjective synonym of Albertosaurus.