page_title: Teratophoneus
section_title: Discovery and naming
hierarchical_section_title: Teratophoneus / Discovery and naming
caption_attribution_description: Selected postcranial elements of Teratophoneus in left lateral view: (C) cervical vertebra 3; (D) cervical vertebra 9; (E–G) three caudal vertebrae; (H) right ilium (photoreversed with left illium in the background in grayscale); (I) pubis; (J) ischium; (K) right femur in lateral view; (L) right tibia in anterior view; and (M) right fibula in medial view.
context_page_description: Teratophoneus is a genus of carnivorous tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur which lived during the late Cretaceous period in what is now Utah, United States, containing a single known species, T. curriei. It is known from an incomplete skull and postcranial skeleton recovered from the Kaiparowits Formation. It was specifically named T. curriei in honor of Philip J. Currie.
context_section_description: Fossils of Teratophoneus were first found in the Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah. Later, fossils from the same formation were discovered and identified as the genus. Argon-argon radiometric dating indicates that the Kaiparowits Formation was deposited between 76.1 and 74.0 million years ago, during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period. This date means that Teratophoneus lived in the middle of the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Three different fossils of Teratophoneus have been found. Originally, Teratophoneus was described based on the holotype BYU 8120. More recently, the specimens UMNH VP 16690 and UMNP VP 16691 have been assigned to it.
  Teratophoneus was named by Thomas D. Carr, Thomas E. Williamson, Brooks B. Britt and Ken Stadtman in 2011. The type and only species was named T. curriei. The generic name is derived from the Greek teras, "monster", and phoneus, "murderer." The specific name honors Philip J. Currie.
  In 2017, a new specimen of Teratophoneus was discovered in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and airlifted to the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City.
caption: Postcranial elements
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