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This timeline of tyrannosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the tyrannosaurs, a group of predatory theropod dinosaurs that began as small, long-armed bird-like creatures with elaborate cranial ornamentation but achieved apex predator status during the Late Cretaceous as their arms shrank and body size expanded. Although formally trained scientists did not begin to study tyrannosaur fossils until the , these remains may have been discovered by Native Americans and interpreted through a mythological lens. The Montana Crow tradition about thunder birds with two claws on their feet may have been inspired by isolated tyrannosaurid forelimbs found locally.〔 Other legends possibly inspired by tyrannosaur remains include Cheyenne stories about a mythical creature called the Ahke,〔 and Delaware stories about smoking the bones of ancient monsters to have wishes granted.〔 Tyrannosaur remains were among the first dinosaur fossils collected in the United States. The first of these was named ''Deinodon horridus'' by Joseph Leidy. However, as this species was based only on teeth the name would fall into disuse.〔 Soon after, Edward Drinker Cope described ''Laelaps aquilunguis'' from a partial skeleton in New Jersey. Its discovery heralded the realization that carnivorous dinosaurs were bipeds, unlike the lizardlike megalosaurs sculpted for the Crystal Palace.〔 ''Laelaps'' was also among the first dinosaurs to be portrayed artistically as a vigorous, active animal, presaging the Dinosaur Renaissance by decades.〔 Later in the century, Cope's hated rival Othniel Charles Marsh would discover that the name ''Laelaps'' had already been given to a parasitic mite, and would rename the dinosaur ''Dryptosaurus''.〔 Early in the , ''Tyrannosaurus'' itself was discovered by Barnum Brown and named by Henry Fairfield Osborn, who would recognize it as a representative of a distinct family of dinosaurs he called the Tyrannosauridae.〔 Tyrannosaur taxonomy would be controversial for many decades afterward. One controversy centered around the use of the name Tyrannosauridae for this family, as the name "Deinodontidae" had already been proposed. The name Tyrannosauridae came out victorious following arguments put forth by Dale Russell in 1970.〔 The other major controversy regarding tyrannosaur taxonomy was the family's evolutionary relationships. Early in the history of paleontology, it was assumed that the large carnivorous dinosaurs were all part of one evolutionary lineage ("carnosaurs"), while the small carnivorous dinosaurs were part of a separate lineage (coelurosaurs). Tyrannosaurid anatomy led some early researchers like Matthew, Brown, and Huene, to cast doubt on the validity of this division. However, the traditional carnosaur-coelurosaur division persisted until the early , when the application of cladistics to tyrannosaur systematics confirmed the doubts of early workers and found tyrannosaurs to be large-bodied coelurosaurs.〔 Another debate about tyrannosaurs would not be settled until the early 21st century: their diet. Early researchers were so overwhelmed by the massive bulk of ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' that some, like Lawrence Lambe, were skeptical that it was even capable of hunting down live prey and assumed that it lived as a scavenger. This view continued to be advocated into the 1990s by Jack Horner but was shown false by Kenneth Carpenter, who reported the discovery of a partially healed tyrannosaur bite wound on an ''Edmontosaurus annectens'' tail vertebra, proving that ''T. rex'' at least sometimes pursued living victims.〔 ==Prescientific== * The Delaware people of what is now New Jersey or Pennsylvania had a tradition regarding a hunting party that returned with a piece of an ancient bone supposedly belonging to a monster that killed humans. One of the village's wise men instructed people to burn bits of the bone in clay spoons with tobacco and make a wish while the concoction was still smoking. This ritual could bestow such favors as success in hunting, long life, and health for one's children. This tale might be inspired by local fossils, which include ''Dryptosaurus'', ankylosaurs, ''Coelosaurus'', and ''Hadrosaurus''.〔 * The Cheyenne believed that a mythical creature called an Ahke once lived in the prairies of the western United States. These creatures were thought to resemble giant buffalo, whose bones turned to stone. Ahke bones were found both on land as well as buried in the banks of streams. ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' fossils preserved in Hell Creek Formation strata may have been influences on this old legend. Its contemporary ''Triceratops'' is another possible influence, as well as the more recent Cenozoic fossils of ''Titanotherium'' and mastodons.〔 * The Crow People of Montana traditionally portray the thunder birds of their mythology as having two claws on their feet, unlike the three claws of eagles. The presence of two claws is a distinguishing trait of tyrannosaurid arms and the discovery of such fossils may have been interpreted by the Crow as the remains of a giant bird, thus inspiring the idea that the high plains of the American west were home to two-clawed thunder birds.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Timeline of tyrannosaur research」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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