Dinosaur
Tyrannosaurus rex
Tyrant lizard king
Tyrannosaurus rex is the apex predator of the Hell Creek and Lance formations and the most valuable dinosaur in the trade. Shed crowns are thick, D-shaped in cross-section at the front and heavily serrated with chisel-shaped denticles; complete rooted teeth from private ranches sell for thousands per inch. Bone and skeletons from private land are legal in the US but attract intense scrutiny of provenance.
| Phylum | Chordata |
|---|---|
| Class | Reptilia |
| Order | Saurischia |
| Family | Tyrannosauridae |
| Group | Dinosaur |
| Size | 12 m long; teeth to 30 cm with root |
| Rank (PBDB) | species· Paleobiology Database |
| Author | Osborn 1905· Paleobiology Database |
| Common name (PBDB) | tyrant lizard king· Paleobiology Database |
| Classification (PBDB) | Chordata › Reptilia › NO_ORDER_SPECIFIED › Tyrannosauridae· Paleobiology Database |
| Range (PBDB) | 83.6–66 Ma· Paleobiology Database |
| PBDB occurrences | 70· Paleobiology Database |
Restoration and fakes
Tip and serration repair is routine; look for colour breaks and resin under UV. Juvenile T. rex teeth are sold as Nanotyrannus by some dealers, a contested name.
Photographs
Elsewhere
- GBIF: 4822633
- PBDB: 54833
- Wikidata: Q13098211
- PBDB taxon page
- Wikipedia: Tyrannosaurus rex
- PBDB search: Tyrannosaurus
Cite this article
Stratum Strata. "Tyrannosaurus rex" (Taxon). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/strata/taxa/tyrannosaurus-rex. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-tyrannosaurus-rex,
title = {Tyrannosaurus rex},
author = {{Stratum Strata}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/taxa/tyrannosaurus-rex}},
year = {2026},
note = {Taxon article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, pbdb, commons, wikidata, nhm. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.