Specimens of Tyrannosaurus
Open-knowledge reference entry
Tyrannosaurus is one of the most iconic dinosaurs and is known from numerous specimens, some of which have individually acquired notability due to their scientific significance and media coverage.
Specimen data
Publicly accessioned specimens
Over 60 specimens of Tyrannosaurus are accessioned into public museums, which are represented by the table below largely based on the following sources:
Privately owned specimens
The table below includes specimens that are in private collections and institutions including the Black Hills Institute, or loaned in a public museum but is owned by a private collector.
Manospondylus: AMNH FARB 3982
The first-named fossil specimen which can be attributed to Tyrannosaurus rex consists of two partial vertebrae (one of which has been lost) found by Edward Drinker Cope in 1892. Cope believed that they belonged to an "agathaumid" (ceratopsid) dinosaur, and named them Manospondylus gigas, meaning "giant porous vertebra" in reference to the numerous openings for blood vessels he found in the bone. The M. gigas remains were later identified as those of a theropod rather than a ceratopsid, and H.F. Osborn recognized the similarity between M. gigas and Tyrannosaurus rex as early as 1917. However, due to the fragmentary nature of the Manospondylus vertebrae, Osborn did not synonymize the two genera.
Dynamosaurus: NHMUK R7994
The holotype of Tyrannosaurus rex, a partial skull and skeleton originally called AMNH 973 (AMNH stands for American Museum of Natural History), was discovered in the U.S. state of Montana in 1902 and excavated over the next three years. Another specimen (AMNH 5866), found in Wyoming in 1900, was described in the same paper under the name Dynamosaurus imperiosus. At the time of their initial description and naming, these specimens had not been fully prepared and the type specimen of T. rex had not even been fully recovered. In 1906, after further preparation and examination, Henry Fairfield Osborn recognized both skeletons as belonging to the same species.
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