Although small in Tyrannosaurus terms, coming in at around 6.3 metres in length, the Labocania Aguillonae would still be pretty terrifying if it roamed the earth today. As Dr. Héctor Rivera-Sylva of the Museo del Desierto and Dr. Nicholas Longrich from the University of Bath explains, the Tyrannosaurus was the apex predator during their time, holding dominion over the ecosystem of the time, and it is no different for these slightly smaller versions (if 6.3 metres can truly be considered small!).
They also went on to highlight how, although during the Cenomanian and Turonian ages (100 to 89 million years ago) tyrannosaurs were relatively small and unspecialized, by the Campanian age (83 million years ago), they had started to diversify into larger and more varied forms.
These changes could be due to competition to other species or changes in habitat - but what is interesting is that tyrannosaurids exhibit very high endemism, suggesting a hitherto underestimated diversity amongst carnivorous dinosaurs. It is particularly remarkable when put in comparison with modern apex predators that cover larger geographic ranges and show lower endemism than the tyrannosaurids.
A key discovery that proves that endemicity existed within tyrannosaurs in the Late Campanian period, the study points towards more future discoveries of tyrannosaurus species if the limitations of geographic sampling can be overcome.