Rosa Rubicondior: Creationism Refuted - Now It's A Transitional Dinosaur

Saturday, 25 October 2025

Creationism Refuted - Now It's A Transitional Dinosaur - Khankhuuluu The Dragon Prince

An artist's impression of the newly discovered dinosaur

Julius Csotonyi

Paleontologists from the University of Calgary identify closest-known ancestor to Tyrannosaurs | EurekAlert!

Two new papers announced today will have creationists scratching their heads as they try to decide which technique for dismissing them will meet with the most approval from their fellow cultists.

The first, in Nature, concerns yet another of those supposedly non-existent transitional fossils which, because Charles Darwin predicted they would be found, must be dismissed at all costs. It comes in the form of an 86-million-year-old dinosaur fossil from Mongolia that is intermediate between the small, fleet-footed predatory dinosaurs and the larger apex predators — the tyrannosaurs.

The usual creationist response is to declare that these intermediate fossils are “not transitional; they are fully formed, created species.” Of course, that doesn’t explain why species that are intermediate between ancestral and descendant species show a mosaic of features from both. Presumably, given their parody of evolution — in which evolution is imagined as a single event where one species suddenly turns into another — they expect an intermediate to be half one and half the other: the equivalent of the “crocoduck” or a chimpanzee with a human head. In reality, this discovery shows exactly what we would expect from the fossil record of tyrannosaur evolution 86 million years ago.

It's also important to creationism that the so-called 'missing link' stays missing. It is only ever referred to in the singular and refers to some supposed link between apes and humans, and it is definitely not one of the many archaic African hominins. But of course, every fossil is the 'link' or transitional form between its parents and its offspring because evolution is a process, not the parody event of creationism, evolving species form a continuum, and this discovery from Mongolia is no exception.

The Bayanshiree (Bayan Shireh/Baynshire) Formation in southeastern Mongolia. Location and stratigraphic context

Region: Eastern–southern Gobi Desert, Mongolia; classic localities include Bayan Shiree (Bayn Shireh), Burkhant, Bayshin Tsav, Khoorai Tsav, Khongil Tsav, Bor Guvé and Khara Khutul. [1.1]
Stratigraphic relations: Generally reported to overlie the Baruunbayan (Baruunbayan/Sainshand) Formation and underlie the Javkhlant Formation; usage varies by author and area. [1.1]
Thickness: Up to ~300 m. [1.1]

Age and dating

Broad age: Early–Middle Late Cretaceous, most commonly constrained to Cenomanian–Santonian (≈98–83 Ma). [1.1]
Magnetostratigraphy: Section sits within the Cretaceous Long Normal interval, implying a maximum age no younger than the end-Santonian boundary. [1.1]
Palynology & palaeomagnetism: Work on Gobi successions, including Bayn Shireh, supports a mid-Cretaceous to early Late Cretaceous age. [2.1]
Direct geochronology: Calcite U–Pb (caliche) dates indicate ~95.9 ± 6.0 to 89.6 ± 4.0 Ma (Cenomanian–Turonian/Santonian window). [3.1]
Contextual summaries: UNESCO lists Bayanshiree as representing “Bayan Shirenian (Cenomanian–Turonian)” fossil sites (~90 Ma). [4.1]

Lithology and depositional environment

Principal lithologies: Variegated claystone and sandstone, with mudstone and conglomerate interbeds; frequent calcareous concretions. Cross-stratified fine–medium sandstones are typical. [1.1]
Facies & environments: Dominantly fluvial (large, meandering river systems) with lacustrine components under semi-arid climatic conditions. [1.1]

Palaeobiology (very brief)
* Notable for diverse dinosaurs (e.g., therizinosaurs, ankylosaurs, hadrosauroids such as Gobihadros), crocodyliform tracks, rare pterosaurs, and very scarce mammals (including recent zhelestid finds). [5.1]

Names and usage

* Common variants include Bayanshiree, Bayan Shireh, Bayn Shireh, and older Russian usage Baynshirenskaya Svita. [1.1]

Its discovery by an international team of researchers led by Jared Voris and Dr Darla Zelenitsky in the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary is the subject of a press release from the University of Calgary via EurekAlert!

Paleontologists from the University of Calgary identify closest-known ancestor to Tyrannosaurs
Khankhuuluu was a precursor to the famous bone-crushing kings of the Cretaceous
Paleontologists have identified a new species of dinosaur, Khankhuuluu, which is being described as the closest-known ancestor to the giant Tyrannosaurs. The finding by an international team of researchers – led by Jared Voris and Dr. Darla Zelenitsky in the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary – is published in the journal Nature. Voris, first author and a PhD candidate in the Department of Earth, Energy, and Environment, says the new species of Tyrannosaur would have lived 86 million years ago and was a medium-sized, fleet-footed predator that evolved after the extinction of other large predatory dinosaurs. Khankhuuluu was the closest ancestor to the behemoths famously depicted in media like Jurassic Park, the Tyrannosaurs.
This new species provides us the window into the ascent stage of Tyrannosaur evolution; right when they’re transitioning from small predators to their apex predator form.

Jared T. Voris, first author.
Department of Earth, Energy and Environment
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Khankhuuluu translates from Mongolian to mean “prince of dragons” or “the dragon prince.” The name denotes its place in the lineage of Tyrannosaurs, as Khankhuuluu was the prince before species like Tyrannosaurus rex, the Tyrant Lizard King. As the closest-known ancestor, Khankhuuluu shares many characteristics with its Tyrannosaur descendants – though it lacked some of the more defining features that Tyrannosaurs had. The new species weighed 750 kilograms (about the size of a horse), making it two to three times smaller than its massive descendants.

Khankhuuluu had tiny rudimentary horns that would evolve to be more noticeable in species like Albertosaurus or Gorgosaurus used for mating display or intimidation. It had a long, shallow skull that shows Khankhuuluu didn’t have the ability to crunch through bone like the T. rex. The new species can be defined as a mesopredator, similar to coyotes, meaning it used speed and agility to take down its prey.

The fossils, found in the Bayanshiree Formation in southeastern Mongolia, had been studied in the 1970’s by paleontologist Altangerel Perle. Perle likened the fossils to another medium-sized Tyrannosaur called Alectrosaurus from China. Voris went to Mongolia in 2023 to study fossils at the Institute of Paleontology – and soon realized there were features that differentiated them from the Alectrosaurus.

The discovery also provides more details into Tyrannosaur evolution.

Khankhuuluu, or a closely related species, would have immigrated to North America from Asia around 85 million years ago. Our study provides solid evidence that large Tyrannosaurs first evolved in North America as a result of this immigration event.

Associate Professor Darla K. Zelenitsky
Department of Earth, Energy and Environment
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The results of the study show the movement of Tyrannosaurs back and forth between Asia and North America was less frequent and less sporadic than previously known. Khankhuuluu is the last known ancestor of Tyrannosaurs found in the Asian fossil record.

The research reveals that the new species, or one of its kin, travelled across a land bridge into North America, where it evolved into the famous apex predator Tyrannosaurs. The fossil record indicates Tyrannosaurs were exclusive to North America for few million years before immigrating to Asia, where the lineage split into two groups. One group branched off to become even bigger apex predators, ultimately evolving into T. rex, and the other group evolved into a medium-sized long-snouted species (dubbed ‘Pinocchio rexes’).

Looking ahead, the next step for researchers is to investigate the earlier ancestors of these apex predators, which are still poorly known.

Publication:
Voris, J.T., Zelenitsky, D.K., Kobayashi, Y. et al.
A new Mongolian tyrannosauroid and the evolution of Eutyrannosauria.
Nature 642, 973–979 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08964-6

Abstract
Eutyrannosaurians were large predatory dinosaurs that dominated Asian and North American terrestrial faunas in latest Cretaceous times. These apex predators arose from smaller-bodied tyrannosauroids during the ‘middle’ Cretaceous that are poorly known owing to the paucity of fossil material^1,2,3. Here we report on a new tyrannosauroid, Khankhuuluu mongoliensis gen. et sp. nov., from lower Upper Cretaceous deposits of Mongolia that provides a new perspective on eutyrannosaurian origins and evolution. Phylogenetic analyses recover Khankhuuluu immediately outside Eutyrannosauria and recover the massive, deep-snouted Tyrannosaurini and the smaller, gracile, shallow-snouted Alioramini as highly derived eutyrannosaurian sister clades. Khankhuuluu and the late-diverging Alioramini independently share features related to a shallow skull and gracile build with juvenile eutyrannosaurians, reinforcing the key role heterochrony had in eutyrannosaurian evolution. Although eutyrannosaurians were mainly influenced by peramorphosis or accelerated growth^{4,5,6,7,8,9,10}, Alioramini is revealed as a derived lineage that retained immature features through paedomorphosis and is not a more basal lineage as widely accepted^{11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19}. Our results reveal that Asian tyrannosauroids (similar to Khankhuuluu) dispersed to North America, giving rise to Eutyrannosauria in the mid-Late Cretaceous. Eutyrannosauria diversified and remained exclusively in North America until a single dispersal to Asia in the latest Cretaceous that established Alioramini and Tyrannosaurini. Stark morphological differences between Alioramini and Tyrannosaurini probably evolved due to divergent heterochronic trends—paedomorphosis versus peramorphosis, respectively—allowing them to coexist in Asia and occupy different ecological niches.

Voris, J.T., Zelenitsky, D.K., Kobayashi, Y. et al.
A new Mongolian tyrannosauroid and the evolution of Eutyrannosauria.
Nature 642, 973–979 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08964-6

© 2025 Springer Nature Ltd.
Reprinted under the terms of s60 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This fossil is not merely another fascinating addition to the fossil record; it is yet another clear demonstration of evolutionary transitions captured in stone. Far from the few thousand years claimed by biblical literalists, this animal lived some 86 million years ago — tens of millions of years before the supposed date of a global flood, let alone the mythical Garden of Eden. Its existence alone places it utterly beyond the scope of any young Earth narrative.

More importantly, it is precisely what evolutionary theory predicts we should find: a species with a mosaic of traits linking smaller, more primitive tyrannosauroids to the later, gigantic apex predators of the Late Cretaceous. This is the very definition of a transitional form — not a crude half-and-half chimera as imagined in creationist cartoons, but a species occupying a real evolutionary position between ancestral and descendant lineages.

For creationists, this is deeply inconvenient. They have long relied on the tired claim that “no transitional fossils have ever been found,” yet each discovery like this one drives another nail into the coffin of that argument. Evolutionary transitions are not missing; they are plentiful, well-documented, and exactly where the science says they should be. It is only the creationist narrative that is missing — missing from reality, missing from evidence, and increasingly irrelevant in the face of the growing fossil record.

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