Thanatotheristes degrootorum - "reaper of death"

The oldest known member of the Tyrannosaur family walked the plains of southern Alberta about 80 mya. That's the finding of a new study identifying the previously unknown dinosaur. Paleontologists confirmed that it was a new species. The name, Thanatotheristes degrootorum, means "reaper of death" in Greek. This tyrannosaur was as the only known large apex predator of its time in Canada. Tyrannosaurs were a type of carnivorous, bipedal dinosaur called therapods.