Fossil Profile: Tyrannaruspex

Haruspices were a group of hypercarnivorous dignathans which had adapted to hunt other bipods. Having evolved from durophagous ancestors in the aftermath of the Hangenberg event, haruspices sported a pair of robust mandibles which they used to disembowel their armoured prey, giving them their names. The particular specimen pictured is a year old tyrant haruspex (Tyrannaruspex fluminis), which was one of the largest predators from this period found on the western micro-continent. Fully grown, they were even able to take down medium-sized dromaeopods by targetting their thinner stomach-plates, as evident by the intestinal contents of some fossils. Though all aquatic haruspices had gone extinct in the mass extinction 70 million years ago, their terrestrial cousins survived, and gave rise to a myriad catalogue of browsers.

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