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Tarbosaurus

By , About.com Guide

Tarbosaurus (Wikimedia Commons)

Name:

Tarbosaurus (Greek for "terrifying lizard"); pronounced TAR-bo-SORE-us

Habitat:

Floodplains of Asia

Historical Period:

Late Cretaceous (70-65 million years ago)

Size and Weight:

About 40 feet long and 5 tons

Diet:

Herbivorous dinosaurs

Distinguishing Characteristics:

Long head; exceptionally small arms

About Tarbosaurus:

When its fossils were first discovered in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, paleontologists debated whether Tarbosaurus was a new species of Tyrannosaurus, rather than a representative of its own genus. Clearly, these two carnivores had a lot in common--they were both huge meat-eaters with numerous sharp teeth and tiny, almost vestigial arms--but they also inhabited opposite sides of the globe, T. Rex in North America and Tarbosaurus in Asia.

Lately, the bulk of the evidence points to Tarbosaurus as belonging to its own genus. This tyrannosaur had a unique jaw structure and even smaller forelimbs than T. Rex; more important, no Tarbosaurus fossils have been found outside Asia. It's even possible that Tarbosaurus had historical precedence, and gave rise to T. Rex when some hardy individuals crossed the Siberian land bridge into America.

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