Martharaptor
Name:
Martharaptor
(Martha’s hunter).
Phonetic: Mar-fah-rap-tor.
Named By: Phil Senter, James I. Kirkland
& Donald D. DeBlieux - 2012.
Classification: Chordata, Reptiles, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Therizinosauroidea.
Species: M. greenriverensis
(type).
Diet: Uncertain.
Size: Uncertain.
Known locations: USA, Utah - Cedar Mountain
Formation.
Time period: Possibly Barremian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Fragmentary post cranial
remains.
The
fragmentary fossil remains of Martharaptor do not
reveal too much about
this dinosaur themselves. However they do bear resemblance to the
remains of another dinosaur named Falcarius,
and this is why
Martharaptor has become a special point of interest
for
palaeontologists. Falcarius was one of the
therizinosaurs, a group
of specially adapted herbivores (though some speculate that they
could have been omnivorous) that at some point evolved from predatory
meat eating ancestors. The earlier appearance of Martharaptor
has led
some to speculate that it may have been one of the first
therizinosaurs, and possibly theropods to switch from an exclusively
meat diet to plants, though competition for the latter title might
come from the ornithomimosaurs.
Another possible upset to both of
these claims could be Eshanosaurus
from China, although the remains
of this dinosaur are so incomplete it is hard to be certain as to
exactly what kind of dinosaur it is.
Martharaptor
was named in honour of Martha Hayden. The species name M.
greenriverensis means ‘from Green River’.
Further reading
- Martharaptor greenriverensis, a new theropod dinosaur from the Lower
Cretaceous of Utah. - PLoS ONE 7(8):e43911:1-12. - P. Senter, J. I.
Kirkland & D. D. DeBlieux - 2012.
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