Moros

Name meaning: Impending Doom

Time Period: Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) 96.4 Mya

Locations: Utah-Cedar Mountain Formation

Taxonomy: Theropoda-Tyrannosauroidea

Subspecies: M.intrepidus

Characteristics ~ ~ ~ ~

Impending doom approaches…. Often referred to by its binomial name Moros Intrepidus because it shares the name with the Greek god Moros the personification of impending doom. Moros is one of the earliest diagnostic relatives of Tyrannosaurus the largest terrestrial predator and what most would call the king of the dinosaurs. Although it’s little material is only most of a leg and teeth it can be estimated that Moros was only 4 feet long and around 175 pounds. It’s leg was relatively long compared to the rest of it’s body characteristic of juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex that would use the extra leg length of ambush hunting smaller animals. Also like Juvenile Tyrannosaurus it would have likely been covered in feathers. Moros also coexisted and hunted with many smaller relatives of other iconic dinosaurs like Zuniceratops-Triceratops Jeyawati-Edmontosaurus Nothronychus-Therazinosaurus. Moros would also have been around to see the last of the previous apex predators of North America the Carcharodontosaurids like Siats, go extinct.

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History & Fossils ~ ~ ~ ~

Holotype Specimen NCSM 33392 was discovered in 2013 but was not described until February 2019 Lindsay E. Zanno, Ryan T. Tucker, Aurore Canoville, Haviv M. Avrahami, Terry A. Gates, and Peter J. Makovicky. I hope soon more material gets discovered for this species and other early Tyrannosaurs like Alectrosaurus to more clearly understand their origin.

Media Deptictions ~ ~ ~ ~

Jurassic World Dominion Features this Tiny Tyrannosaur in a small glass enclosure where it’s explained that the animals of the Biosyn valley are 100% genetically pure (lies). This moros is only around a foot long, which would make it seem to only be a juvenile; however in spinoff’s the moros are still small. I like the design of this moros being a tiny cat sized tyrannosaur that can be kept as a pet.