T. rex Wasn’t the Only One with Limited Arm Reach!

Tyrannosaurus rex is renowned for its oversized head and puny arms that wouldn’t have enabled it to wipe its nose, much less bloody the nose of another T. rex in a boxing match. Now, a new mega-carnivore has been uncovered with a similar body plan. It was formally described in the journal Current Biology.

Found in the Patagonian Desert of Argentina, Meraxes gigas has been described in the journal Science as “a Tyrannosaurus rex doppelgänger.” Although sporting similar body plans, the two critters are only distantly related. T. rex is a member of the tyrannosaurid family, whereas M. gigas belongs to the carcharodontosaurids.

Scientists note this is yet another example of convergent evolution where distantly related creatures eventually converge on similar body plans or modes of existence, just as birds, bats, and pterodactyls all independently evolved the ability for winged ‚ight.