Tyrannosaur lips? Probably not...

Dinosaurs Forum Topic

Alphadino65

MemberTriceratopsJun 24, 20175079 Views2 Replies

A recent theory that has abounded in paleontological communities since last year (mostly inspired by the research that went to into portraying T.rex in a new video game called Saurian) was that tyrannosaurs had lips that fully encased their teeth when they closed their mouths. The explanation was that their enamel-covered teeth needed to be coated in fluid constantly to prevent them from degrading.

However, some well preserved skull fossils from a new species of Daspletosaurus may have disproved the lip theory:

http://westerndigs.org/dinosaur-fossils-found-in-montana-reveal-tyrannosaurs-true-face-it-didnt-have-lips/

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GG
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GGJune 24, 2017

Interesting. I mean this is only for Daspletosaurus, other tyrannosaurs and predatory dinosaurs, or just dinosaurs in general could still have had lips. This does raise the question whether or not these modern day ideas like a feathered and lipped rex are legit or not.

Good grief.

Alphadino65
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Alphadino65June 24, 2017

Yes, the only definitive answer is that D. horneri did not have lips. HOWEVER, using phylogenetic bracketing, it is a good bet that other tyrannosaurs had the same trait, just like it was used to hypothesize that all tyrannosaurs in North America also had feathers.

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