Nanotyrannus skeleton sells for $47.3m in New York auction

Jodi was initially exhibited as a juvenile T. rex at London's Frieze Masters international art fair in October 2023, before the Nanotyrannus genus was classified.

The skeleton was discovered in the US state of Montana by rancher Jodi Pierson on her land in the Hell Creek Formation, a heavily studied geological site. It was later excavated by commercial palaeontologist Clayton Phipps.

Phipps also discovered the famous "Dueling Dinosaurs" fossil. That specimen, which shows the remains of a Nanotyrannus and Triceratops apparently in combat, was found eight miles (13km) away from Jodi in 2006.

The "Dueling Dinosaurs" discovery became crucial to the research published by Lindsay Zanno and James Napoli that classified Nanotyrannus as separate from T. rex. Their paper ended decades of debate over whether the dinosaurs were distinct from one another.

The auction of Jodi comes as some scientists warn that auctions could herald a new era in fossil collecting by the ultra-rich.

Researchers told the BBC after the sale of Gus that such remains should be exhibited in public spaces where they can be more freely studied.

Prof Steve Brusatte, a palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh and consultant on the Jurassic Park films, told BBC World Service's What in the World programme in July that the T. rex's auction was "concerning".

"I don't know of any museum or university that can afford a price tag like that," he said. "Imagine if the Mona Lisa was just owned by a super-wealthy person and it wasn't on display and people couldn't see it, couldn't enjoy it."