Lucas, S. G. and Sullivan, R.M., eds., 2006, Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the Western Interior.

New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 35.

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DYNAMOSAURUS IMPERIOSUS AND THE EARLIEST DISCOVERIES OF
TYRANNOSAURUS REX IN WYOMING AND THE WEST

BRENT H. BREITHAUPT1, ELIZABETH H. SOUTHWELL2 AND NEFFRA A. MATTHEWS3

1
Geological Museum, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071uwgeoms@uwyo.edu; 2Geological Museum, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071;
3
National Science and Technology Center, USDOI-Bureau of Land ManagementBldg. 50, DFC, Denver, CO 80225

Abstract—The Rocky Mountain West is the setting for the first discoveries of the world’s most famous dinosaur,
Tyrannosaurus rex. This long and interesting history begins with a single tooth. In 1874, Arthur Lakes found a
“Fossil Saurian Tooth” (YPM 4192) that was sent to Othniel Charles Marsh. However, Marsh never formally de-
scribed this specimen from the Late Cretaceous units of the Denver Basin in Colorado. Subsequently, Marsh would
receive a number of additional specimens attributable to T. rex from similar stratigraphic units in Wyoming. These
units became known as the “Ceratops Beds,” as Marsh noted in 1896: “Nearly every outcrop for over 800 miles
along the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains contains ceratopsians.”
Wyoming’s first T. rex material from the “Ceratops Beds” was found in northern Converse County (now Niobrara
County) of eastern Wyoming. While collecting for Marsh, John Bell Hatcher found a partial right metatarsal IV
(USNM 2110) along Lance Creek in 1890. The following year, he continued to collect in the fossil-rich, latest
Cretaceous units, now known as the Lance Formation. Along Alkali Creek, Hatcher found a left femur, tibia, and
partial fibula (USNM 8064). At another site along this small drainage, Hatcher and A. E. Sullins discovered a right
ilium (USNM 6183). In 1896, Marsh identified all of these specimens as remains of his huge theropod species,
Ornithomimus grandis (“grand bird-mimic”). Marsh wrote: “There is much probability that this gigantic carnivore
was one of the most destructive enemies of the herbivorous Ceratopsidae, next to be described.”
Not surprisingly at the same time and in the same general area, Marsh’s paleontological rival, Edward Drinker
Cope, was also collecting in the latest Cretaceous units of the West. From the “Ceratops Beds” of South Dakota,
Cope discovered two large vertebral fragments (AMNH 3982) in 1892. Although believing that these were from one
of the large agathaumid ceratopsians, when he named the material Manospondylus gigas, “giant porous vertebra;”
these specimens are clearly the abraded, dorsal vertebral centra from a T. rex and record yet another early account of
this species.
The importance of Tyrannosaurus rex remains was not fully recognized until the discovery of various partial
skeletons in the early 1900s by crews from the American Museum of Natural History. In the year 1900, Henry
Fairfield Osborn sent Barnum Brown to the “Ceratops Beds” of the West to find Triceratops specimens for display
in New York. Brown, H. L. Smith and their cook, Armstrong, traveled up the Cheyenne River west of Edgemont,
South Dakota into eastern Wyoming to areas slightly north of where Hatcher had been working, but still in Converse
County (currently Niobrara County) and not Weston County as noted by Osborn. At the junction of the Cheyenne
River with Alkali Creek, Brown’s party camped for four days, finding only fragmentary Triceratops remains. They
continued prospecting in the area up to the head of Seven Mile Creek, where they found a source of water and a
suitable place to camp for the rest of the summer. On a small tributary of Seven Mile Creek the excellent exposures
of the latest Cretaceous Lance Formation produced leaf impressions, a fossil turtle, and a Triceratops pubis. Brown
and crew also found a disassociated partial (13%) skeleton of a large, “Ceratosaurus-like,” carnivorous dinosaur
(AMNH Field #12) at a site approximately 2.5 miles (not 6 miles as noted by Osborn) north of the Cheyenne River.
To extract the fragile bones of this dinosaur from the soft, fine-grained claystones and siltstones, Brown opened up a
14 x 40 foot quarry.
AMNH Field #12 consisted of the lower jaws and teeth, along with various vertebrae, hip and limb bones, and
ribs (AMNH 5866/BM R7995), as well as numerous dermal plates (AMNH 5866/BM R8001). Mixed in with the
dozens of bones of this theropod were the teeth and jaw of a hadrosaur, the frill of a ceratopsian, the teeth of an
ankylosaur, the scales of a fish, and other undetermined bones; all “evidence of the animals last meal,” according to
Brown. In his 1905 paper, Osborn named AMNH Field #12 Dynamosaurus imperiosus (“powerful imperial liz-
ard”), especially because of the dermal scutes (now known to be ankylosaurian). Earlier in the same paper (and the
reason for its taxonomic seniority), he named Tyrannosaurus rex (“king of the tyrant lizards”). This taxon was based
on a preliminary description of a yet to be fully collected and prepared partial (11%), “Deinodon-like” skeleton from
Montana. Brown found this specimen (AMNH 573/CMNH 9380) in a very hard sandstone within the latest Creta-
ceous Hell Creek Formation in 1902. Osborn rushed to name T. rex prior to this specimen’s full extraction, as the
Carnegie Museum was also preparing the partial (9%) skeleton (CMNH 1400) of a large carnivorous dinosaur found
in 1902. This specimen, which included the skull and lower jaws, along with various vertebrae, ribs, hip bones and
limb elements, was found in the latest Cretaceous units along Schneider Creek, in eastern Wyoming by Olaf Peterson.
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Although Richard Swan Lull had successfully prepared the D. imperious material from the soft matrix by the time
Osborn wrote his 1905 paper, Paul Miller and Peter Kaisen would not have had the chance to fully prepare the
holotype of T. rex from the much harder, concretionary sandstone until later that year. As the Carnegie Museum had
skull material, Osborn felt he needed to name this dinosaur, prior to being “scooped” by his former employee Peterson
(an individual whom Osborn had little respect for as a researcher).
Once the Montana material had been prepared, Osborn realized that Tyrannosaurus rex and Dynamosaurus
imperious were the same species (although he may have suspected this earlier). In 1906, Osborn synonymized D.
imperiosus with T. rex, and utilized both specimens in his description and figures of T. rex. Interestingly, although
now known to be the osteoderms of an Ankylosaurus, as late as 1917, Osborn still considered the dermal plates of D.
imperiosus to be unlike those found for any ornithischian dinosaur. He held to his earlier belief that these scutes
extended down the back and along the sides of his enormous theropod.
Brown continued his collecting efforts in the Cretaceous of Montana and in 1906 uncovered a skull and a skeleton
of T. rex (AMNH 5027) that was approximately 45% complete. Additional work by crews from the American Mu-
seum of Natural History discovered additional skeletal parts (AMNH 5117, AMNH 5029, AMNH 5881) of this
dinosaur in Montana. By 1912, the museum had obtained a total of eight specimens of T. rex from Wyoming and
Montana. With the abundance of fossil material at his disposal, Osborn planned to mount two complete skeletons of
T. rex in a dramatic, interacting pose. However, the costs of such a spectacular exhibit were too high, and only the
1906 specimen (AMNH 5027) was mounted in New York in 1915. Many of the other T. rex fossils were later sent to
other museums. The holotype (AMNH 573/CMNH 9380) was sold to Pittsburgh in 1941 for display, in an attempt to
separate these significant fossils during war time. The original skeleton of Dynamosaurus imperiosus (AMNH 5866/
BM R7995), together with other T. rex material (including parts of AMNH 973, 5027, and 5881), were sold to the
British Museum of Natural History (now The Natural History Museum) in 1960. This material was used in an
interesting “half-mount” display of this dinosaur in London. Currently the material resides in the research collections.
Interestingly, during the mount of this specimen, Barney Newman did research on the skeleton of T. rex and was one
of first to suggest the current stance for this dinosaur with a shortened tail carried in the air. Since these early finds,
numerous Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons have been discovered in the Rocky Mountain West, and although many of
these discoveries have been made in Montana, there is a high potential for new material to be found in Wyoming, the
state that produced the first partial skeleton of this incredible beast.