Re: Tyrannosauridae

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

Search the archives www.cmnh.org/fun/dinosaur-archive for more precise answers, 
as all these questio
ns have been discussed repeatedly at length.

> 1.) Is _Siamotyrannus_ real member of T-dae family?

Probably it is a sinraptorid instead.

> 2.) Is _Gorgosaurus_ considered a valid genus?

By many. Depends on the still unresolved phylogeny. 
http://dev.tolweb.org/tree?group=Tyrannosauridae
&contgroup=Tyrannosauroidea&dynnodeid=12613

> And if so, how does it differ from _Albertosaurus_?

Both *Gorgosaurus* and *Albertosaurus* consist of one species each; that the 
species are different h
as not been questioned so far, I think.

> 3.) How are distinguished members of Tyrannosaurini taxon from less
> advanced tyrannosaurids?

I think Tyrannosaurini is the most recent common ancestor of *Daspletosaurus 
torosus* and *Tyrannosa
urus rex*? Has it got a published definition at all?
This taxon is not mentioned at 
http://dev.tolweb.org/tree?group=Tyrannosauridae&contgroup=Tyrannosau
roidea&dynnodeid=12613, so I can't find its supporting characters.

> 4.) Is _Jenkhiskhan_ the same as _Tarbosaurus_?

*Jenghizkhan*? Yes.

> 5.) Was "T. rex" a scavenger or an agile hunter?

Quite an agile hunter, able to run fast. Being a terrestrial scavenger seems to 
be impossible.

**************************************
The phylogenetic analysis raises more problems than it solves, but exposing 
these new problems may s
timulate the search for the missing answers.
on p. 1245 of
Michel Laurin & Robert R. Reisz: A new study of *Solenodonsaurus janenschi*, 
and a reconsideration o
f amniote origins and stegocephalian evolution, Canadian Journal of Earth 
Sciences 36, 1239 -- 1255
(1999)