NAME

Meaning - Daspletosaurus means “frightful lizard”
Pronounced - das-PLEET-oh-SAWR-us
Named By - Dale Alan Russell
When Named - 1970
DIET

Carnivore (meat-eater)
SIZE

Length - 26-33 feet (8-10 m) long
Height - 9 ft (2.7 m) tall at the hips
Weight - 2-3.5 tons (2300 kg)
WHEN IT LIVED

Late Cretaceous period, about 76-72 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in Alberta, Canada, and in Montana, USA, North America.
FOSSILS

A nearly complete skeleton has been found, plus one skull and a few assorted bones.
CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
  • Suborder Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
  • Tetanura - advanced theropods with three fingers
  • Infraorder Coelurosauria - lightly-built fast-running predators with hollow bones and large brains
  • Superfamily Maniraptoriformes - advanced coelurosaurs with a fused wrist bone
  • Family Tyrannosauroidea
  • Genus Daspletosaurus
  • Species D. torosus (type species named by D. A. Russell, 1970)
INTERESTING FACTS

Daspletosaurus was a bipedal meat-eater that lived in marshes by streams. It had tiny horns behind its eyes and its arms were a bit longer than those of T. rex. It may have been an ancestor of T. rex.