Dinosaurs A to Z
Tyrannosauridae

Teratophoneus

"monster"

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Teratophoneus 6.1 m (20 ft) long
as long as 4 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Teratophoneus
Length
6.1 m (20 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (76.5–75.5 Mya)
Place
Utah, USA
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Tyrannosauridae Dinosauria Saurischia Theropoda Coelurosauria Tyrannosauroidea Late-Cretaceous tyrants: T. rex, Tarbosaurus, Albertosaurus.

Teratophoneus (“monstrous murderer”; Greek: teras, “monster” and phoneus, “murderer”) is a genus of tyrannosaurine theropod dinosaur that lived during the late Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period, (about 76.5 to 75.5 million years ago) in what is now Utah. It contains a single known species, T. curriei, named in honor of paleontologist Philip J. Currie. It is known from an incomplete skull and postcranial skeleton recovered from the Kaiparowits Formation.

What we know

  • Named by Carr et al., 2011.
  • Body length estimated at about 6.1 m.
  • Fossils found in Utah, USA.

What we guess

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