Dinosaurs A to Z
Tyrannosauridae

Dynamoterror dynastes

"powerful terror"

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Dynamoterror 10 m (33 ft) long
as long as 6 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Dynamoterror
Length
10 m (33 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (83–78 Mya)
Place
Mexico · New Mexico, USA
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Tyrannosauridae Dinosauria Saurischia Theropoda Coelurosauria Tyrannosauroidea Late-Cretaceous tyrants: T. rex, Tarbosaurus, Albertosaurus.

Dynamoterror (meaning “powerful terror”) is a monospecific genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous (lower Campanian age, 78 Ma) in what is now the upper Allison Member of the Menefee Formation. The type and only species, Dynamoterror dynastes, is known from a subadult or adult individual about 9 metres (30 feet) long with an incomplete associated skeleton. It was named in 2018 by Andrew T. McDonald, Douglas G. Wolfe and Alton C. Dooley, Jr. Dynamoterror was closely related to Teratophoneus and Lythronax.

What we know

  • Named by McDonald et al., 2018.
  • Fossils found in Mexico and New Mexico, USA.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Dynamoterror — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.