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Description
As night falls 79 million years ago in the early Campanian of the late Cretaceous period in what will be the Foremost formation in Alberta, Canada, a 6-meter long ceratopsian dinosaur, Xenoceratops foremostensis, suddenly realises the place it chose to sleep for the night is not a safe spot. These woods are part of the territory of a pair of Thanatotheristes degrootorum, a predatory tyrannosaurid and one of the oldest known tyrannosaurids. The pair have taken the chance to attack the resting ceratopsid, which suddenly wakes up, realising the danger it is in. With their prey now awake, the tyrannosaur pair now has more of a fight till their prey goes down, and the sounds of their combat have awakened a sleeping Colepiocephale lambei, a meter-long pachycephalosaur, which promptly runs away. With a name that literally means ‘death reaper’, Thanatotheristes was a dangerous animal, just ask Earl. Who’s Earl? See that Xenoceratops head in the bottom left corner? That was him. The tyrannosaurs have decapitated him and now what flesh is left on his head is being scavenged by smaller dinosaurs like the “Dromaeosaurus” that plucked his left eye out.

I am aware that my choice of colours for the Thanatotheristes is a bit ridiculous, but with a name meaning ‘death reaper’ I just couldn’t resist (the Tyrannosaurus rex in Dinosaur Revolution also had some impact). Plus it’s Spooktober so that this dinosaur with patterns like a skeleton crying blood.

Thanatotheristes is one of the oldest known tyrannosaurids (Guanlong and stuff are other tyrannosauroid dinosaurs and don’t count), and is a rather new species that was named earlier this year in 2020. It is most closely related to Daspletosaurus, being the other genus in the clade Daspletosaurini. In fact it has been suggested that T. degrootorum may actually be a species of Daspletosaurus. And it was literally given a name meaning ‘death reaper’ because all the tyrannosaurs are being given awesomebro names now like Lythronax (king of gore) and Dynamoterror (do I even have to translate this one?).

Xenoceratops is one of the oldest known ceratopsids, and no Yinlong and stuff are other kinds of ceratopsian dinosaurs. The creature was named in 2012 and was given the name meaning ‘alien horned face’, because those strange horns are alien-looking. Its remains were actually excavated in 1958 but as always palaeontologists really take their time when naming new dinosaurs.

And there are other dinosaurs known from the Foremost formation but the known species from this area aren’t as diverse as say, Hell Creek or Dinosaur Park. Colepiocephale is one of few other named species from the area. Indeterminate remains of dromaeosaurs (or raptors for those of you who like that term) are known and have been tentatively assigned to the genera Dromaeosaurus and Saurornitholestes, but those two are becoming wastebasket taxon anyway. Not shown in this image, other remains have been assigned to Stegoceras, Paronychodon and Richardoestesia, more stuff whose only purpose is to be wastebasket taxon (except Stegoceras, he’s fine), and an unnamed hadrosaurid. There’s also a few extinct ants known from amber collected there.

Yeah, Earl’s head is a grim sight.

Description
As night falls 79 million years ago in the early Campanian of the late Cretaceous period in what will be the Foremost formation in Alberta, Canada, a 6-meter long ceratopsian dinosaur, Xenoceratops foremostensis, suddenly realises the place it chose to sleep for the night is not a safe spot. These woods are part of the territory of a pair of Thanatotheristes degrootorum, a predatory tyrannosaurid and one of the oldest known tyrannosaurids. The pair have taken the chance to attack the resting ceratopsid, which suddenly wakes up, realising the danger it is in. With their prey now awake, the tyrannosaur pair now has more of a fight till their prey goes down, and the sounds of their combat have awakened a sleeping Colepiocephale lambei, a meter-long pachycephalosaur, which promptly runs away. With a name that literally means ‘death reaper’, Thanatotheristes was a dangerous animal, just ask Earl. Who’s Earl? See that Xenoceratops head in the bottom left corner? That was him. The tyrannosaurs have decapitated him and now what flesh is left on his head is being scavenged by smaller dinosaurs like the “Dromaeosaurus” that plucked his left eye out.

I am aware that my choice of colours for the Thanatotheristes is a bit ridiculous, but with a name meaning ‘death reaper’ I just couldn’t resist (the Tyrannosaurus rex in Dinosaur Revolution also had some impact). Plus it’s Spooktober so that this dinosaur with patterns like a skeleton crying blood.

Thanatotheristes is one of the oldest known tyrannosaurids (Guanlong and stuff are other tyrannosauroid dinosaurs and don’t count), and is a rather new species that was named earlier this year in 2020. It is most closely related to Daspletosaurus, being the other genus in the clade Daspletosaurini. In fact it has been suggested that T. degrootorum may actually be a species of Daspletosaurus. And it was literally given a name meaning ‘death reaper’ because all the tyrannosaurs are being given awesomebro names now like Lythronax (king of gore) and Dynamoterror (do I even have to translate this one?).

Xenoceratops is one of the oldest known ceratopsids, and no Yinlong and stuff are other kinds of ceratopsian dinosaurs. The creature was named in 2012 and was given the name meaning ‘alien horned face’, because those strange horns are alien-looking. Its remains were actually excavated in 1958 but as always palaeontologists really take their time when naming new dinosaurs.

And there are other dinosaurs known from the Foremost formation but the known species from this area aren’t as diverse as say, Hell Creek or Dinosaur Park. Colepiocephale is one of few other named species from the area. Indeterminate remains of dromaeosaurs (or raptors for those of you who like that term) are known and have been tentatively assigned to the genera Dromaeosaurus and Saurornitholestes, but those two are becoming wastebasket taxon anyway. Not shown in this image, other remains have been assigned to Stegoceras, Paronychodon and Richardoestesia, more stuff whose only purpose is to be wastebasket taxon (except Stegoceras, he’s fine), and an unnamed hadrosaurid. There’s also a few extinct ants known from amber collected there.

Yeah, Earl’s head is a grim sight.