Megaraptor

Megaraptor
	Skeletal reconstruction of Megaraptor namunhuaiquii
Temporal occurrence
	Upper Cretaceous (Upper Turonium )
	91.4 to 89.7 million years
Locations
	South America ( Patagonia );
Systematics
	Dinosaur (dinosauria)
	Lizard dinosaur (Saurischia)
	Theropoda
	Tetanurae
	Megaraptora
	Megaraptor
Scientific name
	Megaraptor
	Novas , 1998
Art
	Megaraptor namunhuaiquii Novas , 1988;

Megaraptor ("giant predator") is a genus of theropod dinosaur from thelate Upper Cretaceous (late Turonian ) of Argentina .

Systematics and anatomy

The Typus- and only known type Mega Raptor namunhuaiquii in 1998 by Fernando Novas due to a 35-centimeter-long fossil claw first described . The generic name is a compound from the ancient Greek μέγα (mega) "powerful" and the Latin raptor "robber".

Megaraptor claw in the Aquazoo - Löbbecke Museum in Düsseldorf

Live reconstruction of Megaraptor

Novas held Megaraptor because of the long sickle claw for a large dromaeosaurid , a group of small theropods, which are characterized by a comparable claw on the foot. However, due to the incompleteness of the fossil record , it could not be determined whether the claw belonged to fingers or toes. More recent finds (Calvo, 2004) show that the claw was on one of the three fingers and is thus related to the dromaeosaurids.

Megaraptor is now counted to the Megaraptora . Since some spinosaurids have a similar claw to Megaraptor , there is also speculation about a relationship with these theropods.

In the absence of such skeletal remains, the size of Megaraptor can only be estimated. Paleontologists assume a length of eight meters and a height of about three meters for an adult animal.

literature

Fernando E. Novas : Megaraptor namunhuaiquii, gen. Et sp. nov., a large-clawed, Late Cretaceous theropod from Patagonia. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol. 18, No. 1, 1998, ISSN 0272-4634 , pp. 4-9, doi : 10.1080 / 02724634.1998.10011030 .

Web links

Commons : Megaraptor - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 99, online .
^ Roger BJ Benson, Matthew T. Carrano, Stephen L. Brusatte: A new clade of archaic large-bodied predatory dinosaurs (Theropoda: Allosauroidea) that survived to the latest Mesozoic. In: Natural Sciences . Vol. 97, No. 1, 2010, pp. 71-78, doi : 10.1007 / s00114-009-0614-x .

[paul_10-1] Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 99, online .

[2] Roger BJ Benson, Matthew T. Carrano, Stephen L. Brusatte: A new clade of archaic large-bodied predatory dinosaurs (Theropoda: Allosauroidea) that survived to the latest Mesozoic. In: Natural Sciences . Vol. 97, No. 1, 2010, pp. 71-78, doi : 10.1007 / s00114-009-0614-x .