Murusraptor
Name:
Murusraptor
(wall thief).
Phonetic: Mu-rus-rap-tor.
Named By: Rodolfo Anibal Coria & Philip
John Currie - 2016.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Megaraptora.
Species: M. barrosaensis
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Holotype individual estimated to be about
6.4 meters in length. However this is of an immature individual,
fully grown adults would have been larger.
Known locations: Argentina, Patagonia - Sierra
Barrosa Formation.
Time period: Coniacian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and post
cranial skeleton.
The
holotype remains of Murusraptor were first
recovered across 2001
and 2002, but were not described in a scientific paper until
2016. Murusraptor is identified as a
megaraptoran
theropod
dinosaur, and one of potentially large size. The holotype
individual of Murusraptor has been estimated to
have been just short of
six and a half meters in length at the time of its death. However,
sutures in the known portions of the skull indicate that this
individual was still immature and hence not fully grown. This would
mean that fully grown adults would have been substantially larger,
though how much so is still unknown.
So
far only the rear half of the skull of Murusraptor
has been recovered.
A key feature of this skull however is that even at the rear it was
very narrow. This is a strong indicator that the snout of Murusraptor
would have also been narrow, a feature that it would have shared with
some other megaraptoran theropod dinosaurs, including the Megaraptor
genus.
Further reading
- A new megaraptoran dinosaur (Dinosauria, Theropoda,
Megaraptoridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. - PLoS
ONE 11(7):e0157973:1-53. - Rodolfo Anibal Coria &
Philip John Currie - 2016.
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