Megaraptor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Infraorder: Carnosauria?
Genus: Megaraptor Novas, 1998
Species: Megaraptor namunhuaiquii Novas, 1998 (type)
[Photo] Description in English: Originally described as a massive dromaeosaurid M. namunhuaiquii is now recognized as having been a basal tetanurine. In Deutsch: Ursprünglich als riesiger Dromaeosaurier beschrieben, wird M. namunhuaiquii mittlerweile für einen ursprünglichen Tetanuren gehalten. Source: PaleoPortfolio (www.geocities.com/paleoportfolio/gallery-m_namunhuaiquii.htm). Date: 2005. Author: Jordan Mallon.
Megaraptor ("giant thief") was once thought to be the largest dromaeosaur ever found, but is now known to be a carnosaur related to Allosaurus. It lived in Late Cretaceous times in the Patagonian region of Argentina. It was a contemporary of Giganotosaurus, one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs of all time.
Identification
Megaraptor was initially described as a giant dromaeosaur, known primarily from a single claw (about 1ft long) that resembled the sickle-shaped foot claw of dromaeosaurids. The discovery of a complete front limb, however, showed that this giant claw actually came from the first finger of a carnosaur's hand. The hand is still quite different from other carnosaurs, so it is not clear whether Megaraptor is an allosaurid, a carcharodontosaurid, a megalosauroid, or something else entirely.
It should be noted that, when first discovered and prior to publication, the spinosaurid Baryonyx was also reported to be a dromaeosaurid, again based on a large hand claw.
Size
Megaraptor's size is debated. However, most experts have come to agree that Megaraptor is approximately 8 meters (26 feet) in length and 3 meters (10 feet) in height.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaraptor
| The text in this page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article shown in above URL. It is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL. |
|
