Family
Valid Extinct

Nanotyrannidae

Zanno and Napoli 2025

Nanotyrannus is a genus of tyrannosauroid dinosaur that lived in what is now western North America during the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous, 67 to 66 million years ago. Its fossils are known from the Hell Creek Formation. It was one of the last-known non-avian dinosaurs and lived until the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The first named species, N. lancensis, was described as a new species of Gorgosaurus in 1946 by Charles W. Gilmore based on a single skull. Re-examination of the specimen in 1988 by Robert T. Bakker, Michael Williams and Philip J. Currie moved the species to a new genus of tyrannosaurid, named Nanotyrannus in reference to its small body size compared to other tyrannosaurids.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
6
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Nanotyrannidae
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Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Theropoda Unranked clade
Neotheropoda Unranked clade
Averostra Unranked clade
Tetanurae Unranked clade
Coelurosauria Unranked clade
Tyrannosauroidea Superfamily
Eutyrannosauria Unranked clade
Nanotyrannidae Family
Fossil sites 6 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇺🇸 United States
6
Geological formations
Lance
2
Temporal distribution
Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)
6
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
L. E. Zanno and J. G. Napoli. 2025. Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous. Nature 648(8093):357-367 DOI ↗
Bibliography (5)
W. W. Stein. 2021. The paleontology, geology and taphonomy of the Tooth Draw Deposit; Hell Creek Formation (Maastrictian), Butte County, South Dakota. The Journal of Paleontological Sciences JPS.C.21:0001:1-108
K. Snyder, M. McLain, and J. Wood, A. V. Chadwick. 2020. Over 13,000 elements from a single bonebed help elucidate disarticulation and transport of an Edmontosaurus thanatocoenosis. PLoS One 15(5):e0233182:1-31 DOI ↗
M. D. Henderson and J. E. Peterson. 2006. An azhdarchid pterosaur cervical vertebra from the Hell Creek Formation (Maastrichtian) of southeastern Montana. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(1):192-195 DOI ↗
C. Lupton, D. Gabriel, and R. M. West. 1980. Paleobiology and depositional setting of a Late Cretaceous vertebrate locality, Hell Creek Formation, McCone County, Montana. Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming 18(2):117-126
C. W. Gilmore. 1946. A new carnivorous dinosaur from the Lance Formation of Montana. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 106(13):1-19