Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA.
Science. 2010 Sep 17;329(5998):1481-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1193304.
Tyrannosaurs, the group of dinosaurian carnivores that includes Tyrannosaurus rex and its closest relatives, are icons of prehistory. They are also the most intensively studied extinct dinosaurs, and thanks to large sample sizes and an influx of new discoveries, have become ancient exemplar organisms used to study many themes in vertebrate paleontology. A phylogeny that includes recently described species shows that tyrannosaurs originated by the Middle Jurassic but remained mostly small and ecologically marginal until the latest Cretaceous. Anatomical, biomechanical, and histological studies of T. rex and other derived tyrannosaurs show that large tyrannosaurs could not run rapidly, were capable of crushing bite forces, had accelerated growth rates and keen senses, and underwent pronounced changes during ontogeny. The biology and evolutionary history of tyrannosaurs provide a foundation for comparison with other dinosaurs and living organisms.
暴龙，这个包括霸王龙及其近亲的恐龙肉食动物群体，是史前的标志性生物。它们也是研究最深入的灭绝恐龙，由于样本量较大和新发现的涌入，它们已成为用于研究脊椎动物古生物学中许多主题的古老典范生物。一个包括最近描述的物种的系统发育表明，暴龙起源于中侏罗世，但直到白垩纪晚期，它们仍然主要是小型的和生态边缘的。对霸王龙和其他衍生的暴龙的解剖学、生物力学和组织学研究表明，大型暴龙不能快速奔跑，能够承受强大的咬合力，具有加速的生长速度和敏锐的感官，并在个体发育过程中经历明显的变化。暴龙的生物学和进化历史为与其他恐龙和生物进行比较提供了基础。
