A history of Albertosaurus discoveries in Alberta, CanadaThis article is one of a series of papers published in this Special Issue on the theme Albertosaurus.
After many years of taxonomic uncertainty, Albertosaurus was established as a new genus in 1905, the year Alberta became a province of Canada. Gorgosaurus is a closely related tyrannosaurid from the Judithian beds of southern Alberta that was subsequently synonymized with Albertosaurus. Although most researchers consider the genera as distinct, there has been considerable confusion over the temporal and geographic range of Albertosaurus. Albertosaurus sarcophagus is only known from 13 skulls and (or) skeletons of varying completeness, and one (possibly two) bonebeds, all from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Campanian–Maastrichtian) of Alberta. Many of the major Albertosaurus specimens are scientifically compromised due to poor collection techniques, incomplete locality and stratigraphic information, politics, vandalism, accidents, gunplay, and landowner issues. The background of each specimen is discussed to eliminate some of the sources of confusion and to document how much of each specimen is preserved.