Orkoraptor
Name:
Orkoraptor
(Toothed river thief).
Phonetic: Or-kor-rap-tor.
Named By: Novas, Excurra & Leocuona -
2008.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Megaraptora.
Species: O. burkei (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Uncertain due to incomplete fossil material.
Known locations: Argentina.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull, teeth,
caudal (tail) vertebra and a partial tibia (one of the lower leg
bones).
The
name Orkoraptor is derived from 'Orr-Korr' the
Aoniken name for the
La Leona River of Argentina.When first described, Orkoraptor
was
thought to be a coelurosaur thus a possible tyrannosauroid.
However
later studies have since caused this notion to be dismissed as
Orkoraptor seems to actually be a form of late
surviving allosaurid, possibly a megaraptoran.
It's
possible that the geographic isolation of South America from the rest
of the world during the Cretaceous may have protected the lineage that
led to Orkoraptor from other newly appearing
forms. This is also
reflected in the fact that Orkoraptor is one of the
southernmost
carnivorous dinosaurs that have been discovered in South America.
Unless future fossil finds prove otherwise, Orkoraptor
may have been
restricted to the south due to the abundance of carcharodontid and
abelisaurid theropods further north.
Further reading
- Orkoraptor burkei nov. gen. et sp., a large theropod from the
Maasdtrichtian Pari Aike Formation, southern Patagonia, Argentina. -
Cretaceous Research 29(3):468-480. - F. E. Novas, M. D. Ezcurra
& A. Lecuona - 2008.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random favourites
 |
 |
|