Unlike modern mantis shrimps, which are mostly benthic animals, Tyrannosculda is believed to have been a necto-benthic predator that hunted while it swam.

The holotype (SMNS 67592/1) was collected from the Eichstätt Subformation of the Altmühltal Group (Solnhofen Limestone) at Blumenberg quarry, and four other specimens were designated as paratypes.

The sub-terminal segment of the largest raptorial appendages is swollen and enlarged, with small spines or serrations along the median edge, and is widest in the middle with rounded areas at the joints.

[1] Smith et al. (2023) conducted a phylogenetic analysis which also supports the placement of Tyrannosculda as an early diverging member of Unipeltata, the results of which are displayed in the cladogram below:[3]

Archaeocaris vermiformis Archaeocaris graffhami †Bairdops elegans Perimecturus parki Perimecturus rapax †Bairdops beargulchensis †Daidal pattoni †Daidal schoellmanni †Daidal acanthocercus Gorgonophontes fraiponti Gorgonophontes peleron †Chabardella spinosa †Tyrannophontes theridion †Tyrannophontes gigantion †Triassosculda ahyongi †Tyrannosculda laurae †Pseudosculda laevis †Archaeosculda phoenicia †Sculda pennata †Sculda syriaca †Ursquilla yehoachi †Lysiosquilla nkporoensis †Nodosculda fisherorum Squilla mantis

Like other mantis shrimp species, Tyrannosculda would have been a predator, using its raptorial appendages to capture invertebrates and similar small prey.

Similarly to the Carboniferous genera Gorgonophontes and Tyrannophontes, the walking appendages of Tyrannosculda were short and would not allow a wide stance, and the animal also seems incapable of lifting the front of its body to catch prey while standing on the ground.

[1] The fossils of Tyrannosculda were excavated from the Eichstätt subformation of the Solnhofen Limestone in Germany, which dates to the Tithonian age of the late Jurassic period, around 150 million years old.