Apatoraptor
| Apatoraptor Temporal range:
Late Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
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| Holotype fossil at Royal Tyrrell Museum | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Caenagnathidae |
| Genus: | †Apatoraptor Funston & Currie, 2016 |
| Species: | †A. pennatus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Apatoraptor pennatus Funston & Currie, 2016
| |
Apatoraptor is a genus of caenagnathid dinosaur which contains a single species, A. pennatus. The only known specimen was discovered in the Campanian-age Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta.[1]
In 1993, at Drumheller in Alberta, three kilometres west of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, a skeleton was found of a theropod. As it was initially identified as some unimportant ornithomimid specimen, preparation only started in 2002 and was almost immediately discontinued when no skull was thought to be present, the fossil again being covered in plaster. In 2008 research was resumed and only then was it discovered that the fossil represented a species new to science.[1]
In 2016, the type species Apatoraptor pennatus was named and decribed by Gregory F. Funston and Philip John Currie. The generic name is derived from the Greek goddess of deceit Apatè and Latin raptor, "robber", in reference to the specimen hiding its true identity for many years. The specific name means "feathered" in Latin, referring to the find of quill knobs on the ulna, showing the animal had wings.[1]
Apatoraptor was, within the Oviraptorosauria, placed in the Caenagnathidae, in a derived position as a possible sister species of Elmisaurus.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d Gregory F. Funston and Philip J. Currie (2016). "A new caenagnathid (Dinosauria: Oviraptorosauria) from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, Canada, and a reevaluation of the relationships of Caenagnathidae". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Online edition: e1160910. doi:10.1080/02724634.2016.1160910.
