Albertosaurus was named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in a one-page note at the end of his 1905 description of Tyrannosaurus rex.
The name honours Alberta, the Canadian province established the same year, in which the first remains were found.
The generic name also incorporates the Greek term σαυρος/sauros ("lizard"), the most common suffix in dinosaur names.
The type species is Albertosaurus sarcophagus; the specific name is derived from Ancient Greek σαρκοφάγος (sarkophagos) meaning "flesh-eating" and having the same etymology as the funeral container with which it shares its name: a combination of the Greek words σαρξ/sarx ("flesh") and φαγειν/phagein ("to eat").
More than 30 specimens of all ages are known to science.
Albertosaurus was named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in a one-page note at the end of his 1905 description of Tyrannosaurus rex. The name honours Alberta, the Canadian province established the same year, in which the first remains were found. The generic name also incorporates the Greek term σαυρος/sauros ("lizard"), the most common suffix in dinosaur names. The type species is Albertosaurus sarcophagus; the specific name is derived from Ancient Greek σαρκοφάγος (sarkophagos) meaning "flesh-eating" and having the same etymology as the funeral container with which it shares its name: a combination of the Greek words σαρξ/sarx ("flesh") and φαγειν/phagein ("to eat"). More than 30 specimens of all ages are known to science.
Albertosaurus