Pronunciation: AWS-tro-RAP-tor
Meaning: Southern plunderer
Author/s: Novas et al. (2009)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Río Negro, Argentina
Discovery Chart Position: #674
Austroraptor cabazai
(Cabaza's southern plunderer)Etymology
Austroraptor is derived from from the Latin "austral" (southern), in reference to southern South America, and "raptor" (plunderer, snatcher, robber or thief).
The species epithet, cabazai,
honors the late Héctor Cabaza, founder of the Museo Municipal
de Lamarque.
Discovery
The remains of Austroraptor were discovered in the Allen Formation at Bajo de Santa Rosa, approximately 90 km southwest of Lamarque town, Río Negro Province, Argentina. The holotype (MML-195) includes a partial skull and upper jaw with teeth, 5 neck vertebrae, 2 back vertebrae, ribs, a right upper arm, a finger bone from digit III, the left pubic shaft, left thigh, and right shin, ankle bones, metatarsal III and toe bones. A second specmen from the same locality includes bones that are not present in the holotype.
Other theropod dinosaurs collected from the Allen Formation include the abelisaurid Quilmesaurus curriei (Juárez Valieri et al., 2007), an as yet unnamed alvarezsaurid (Agnolin et al., 2006), and indeterminate tetanurans (Coria and Salgado, 2005).
