Pronunciation: ri-no-rex
Meaning: Nose king
Author/s: Gates and Scheetz (2014)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Utah, USA
Discovery Chart Position: #880
Rhinorex condrupus
Aside from a still-unnamed tyrannosaur foot, the only confirmed dinosaurian remains from Utah's Book Cliffs belong to a hadrosaurid whose extensive skin impressions were described by Anderson et al. at the end of the 20th Century. But why didn't they give it a name? We have no idea, but we do know they missed out because it has one now — Rhinorex condrupus, the cliff-buried nose king — and Gates and Scheetz get the glory. Bless-id are the big noses.
(Nose king, buried in cliffs)Etymology
Rhinorex is derived from the Greek "rhino" (nose) and the Latin "rex" (king), in reference to its huge nose. The species epithet, condrupus, is derived from the Latin "condo" (bury) and "rupes" (cliffs), as it was buried within the Book Cliffs of Utah.
ZooBank registry: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8836709C-42FE-404C-A036-AD7C47D6C225.
Discovery
The first remains of Rhinorex were discovered in the Neslen Formation (250 km north of the prolific dinosaur-bearing
Kaiparowits Formation), Thompson Canyon,
Grand County, central Utah, USA, by Brian Anderson and Roger Wagerle—students at the University of California at Riverside—in 1992.
The holotype (BYU 13258) is a partial skeleton and skull.
