“The Tyrant of the Nemegt Basin”
Binomial Tarbosaurus bataar · TAR-boh-SORE-us
Late Cretaceous - 70-66 Ma
IllustrationTarbosaurus fossil records in Fossil Atlas are mapped as selected modern discovery locations, with 27 source-backed records currently shown. Mongolia and Asia, especially Nemegt Formation records in the current atlas expansion. Key mapped formations in the current dataset include Nemegt, Udurchukan, Beds of Nogon Tsav. These pins are fossil record locations, not a complete ancient habitat map.
Tarbosaurus was a large tyrannosaurid from Late Cretaceous Mongolia and nearby regions. Fossil Atlas uses it to expand the Gobi Desert map beyond the Flaming Cliffs and into the Nemegt Formation, while noting that the naming history includes later taxonomic combinations.
Drawn true to scale on a metre ruler.
Length
measured10 m · 33 ft
Largest known specimens
Height
measured3.2 m (10.5 ft)
Body mass
estimate5,000 kg · 11,000 lb
Typical adult
Top speed
estimate35 km/h · 22 mph
Modelled, debated
Tarbosaurus was the apex predator of the Nemegt Formation ecosystem in Late Cretaceous Mongolia, occupying the same ecological role as T. rex in North America during roughly the same period. Its skull was proportionally narrower than T. rex and its forelimbs were even more reduced, but its overall predatory approach was similar: bone-crushing jaws, large body, apex position in a rich prey community.
The skull
Long and deep with the same basic tyrannosaurid design as T. rex but proportionally narrower. The jaw muscles were still massive, but the mechanical emphasis differed slightly between the two genera.
Forelimbs
Even more reduced relative to body size than T. rex, with only two functional fingers. The most extreme limb reduction found in the tyrannosaurid family.
The Nemegt prey community
Shared the formation with large hadrosaurs including Saurolophus, the sauropod Nemegtosaurus, the ornithomimid Gallimimus, and the long-clawed Therizinosaurus.
Taxonomy
The relationship between Tarbosaurus bataar and Tyrannosaurus has been argued for decades. Some researchers have placed it within Tyrannosaurus; most current work keeps the two as separate genera.
Position of this animal’s known range across 252 million years of the Mesozoic and beyond.
70-66 million years ago
Tarbosaurus is one of the best-known large tyrannosaurids from Asia.
Its Nemegt Formation records give Fossil Atlas a strong post-Flaming-Cliffs Mongolia expansion.
It is often compared with T. rex, but Fossil Atlas keeps the records and regions separate.
Soviet-Mongolian expeditions collected the first material from the Nemegt Basin in 1946, and Evgeny Maleev named the animal Tyrannosaurus bataar in 1955. It was later separated into Tarbosaurus by other researchers. A significant legal case arose in 2012 when a Tarbosaurus skeleton was sold at auction in New York despite having been illegally exported from Mongolia. The specimen was eventually repatriated, and the case drew wide attention to the trade in illegally excavated Mongolian fossils.
Animals known from the same deposits and time as Tarbosaurus.
Therizinosaurus
A massive long-clawed herbivore sharing the Nemegt Formation.
Gallimimus
A fast-moving ornithomimid, probably a prey animal for Tarbosaurus.
Saurolophus
A large crested hadrosaur and likely the most common large prey animal in the Nemegt ecosystem.
Other members of Tyrannosauridae.
Tyrannosaurus rex
The North American equivalent and closest relative in terms of size and ecological role.
Gorgosaurus
An earlier, lighter Canadian tyrannosaurid in the same family.
Alioramus
A smaller, long-snouted tyrannosaurid from the Nemegt Formation, possibly a distinct genus or a juvenile Tarbosaurus.
Pins show selected fossil records for Tarbosaurus; use them as modern discovery evidence, not a complete range map. Modern fossil discovery map: pins show where selected fossil and specimen records were found today, not ancient Earth positions. What does this mean?
Specimen evidence
These are sourced specimen assets, separate from reconstruction artwork. Only media with clear open or reusable rights is displayed by default.
Tarbosaurus is represented here by selected fossil records from mongolia and asia, especially nemegt formation records in the current atlas expansion. Fossil Atlas maps those records as modern discovery locations.
No. The map shows modern fossil discovery locations from selected records. Ancient habitat and paleogeographic reconstructions are separate questions.
The current Fossil Atlas records include Nemegt. Formation coverage depends on the selected dataset and may not be complete.
Yes. Use the expedition card generator to turn the Tarbosaurus map and specimen profile into a shareable card.
Selected fossil records from PBDB and museum biodiversity aggregators. This is not a complete fossil count by country; source labels and confidence notes help distinguish canonical paleobiology records from specimen-media records.
Reconstruction images are labeled illustrations and do not represent fossil evidence. Size, speed, and bite-force figures are typical published estimates and remain subject to revision as new specimens are described.
Maps use curated PBDB, museum, and specimen-source records with visible caveats.
Pins show where fossils were found or reported today, not exact ancient habitat positions.
Artwork is labeled separately from specimen photos, maps, and source records.
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