Rapator
Name: Rapator
Rapator (Thief).
Phonetic: Ra-pa-tor.
Named By: Friedrich von Huene - 1932.
Classification: Chordata, Reptila, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Megaraptora.
Species: R. ornitholestoides (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Roughly estimated at up to 9 meters long.
Known locations: Australia, New South Wales -
Griman Creek Formation.
Time period: Aptian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Finger bone.
Australia
would have had a lot of dinosaurs roaming around during the Mesozoic
but the harsh conditions of the land mean that when dinosaur remains
are discovered they are often very fragmentory and of a single bone.
Thus Rapator is currently only known from a single
small bone, kind
of like other Australian genera like Ozraptor
which is only known from
a partial lower leg bone. One interesting thing of note about the
Rapator specimen is that it has been opalised
(turned into opal).
Another Australian dinosaur called Kakuru,
which coincidentally is
also named after a single bone, has also had its fossil opalised.
The
future of Rapator as a valid genus is by no means
certain with many
palaeontologists treating it as a nomen dubium. This is because it
would be difficult to attribute further fossil remains to the genus
upon the grounds that the existing fossil material is simply too little
to go on. This bone was once considered to be similar to the dinosaur
Ornitholestes
in form which led to the species name of R.
ornitholesoides which means ‘Ornitholestes-like’.
But it was the
discovery of Australovenator
in 2009 that led to a clearer
identification yet paradoxically greater uncertainty about Rapator.
The finger bone of Rapator is very much like the
known finger bones of
Australovenator which suggest that Rapator
was a megaraptorian
theropod. However the finger bone is so similar that there has been
suggestion that Rapator and Australovenator
actually represent the same
genus of theropod, something which if true could see Australovenator
becoming a synonym to Rapator.
The
problem with the above synonymy is that it is near impossible to be
certain because of the low level of Rapator
remains. Australovenator
by contrast is also represented by very incomplete remains, but there
is still substantially more of this dinosaur to compare future remains
too. The only connections between Rapator and Australovenator
that
can be positively made is that they appear to be the same type of
theropod, and were both active during the Aptian period of the
Cretaceous. Another dubious genus of Australian theropod is
Walgettosuchus,
a dinosaur that is only known from an opalised
vertebra and has also in the past been suggested as being the same as
Rapator. Again however the lack of remains make a
connection
impossible to establish and the genus remains a nomen dubium.
Further reading
Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte
[The fossil reptile order Saurischia, their development and history]. -
Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie, serie 1 4(1-2):1-361. -
F. von Huene - 1932.
- Morphological comparisons of metacarpal I for Australovenator
wintonensis and Rapator ornitholestoides:
Implications for their
taxonomic relationships. - Alcheringa: an Australasian Journal of
Palaeontology. - M. A. White, P. L. Falkingham, A. G. Cook, S. A.
Hucknull & D. A. Elliot - 2013.
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