VARIRAPTOR
a meat-eating coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of France.
Pronunciation: VAR-i-RAP-tuhr
Meaning: Var plunderer
Author/s: Le Loeuff
et al. (
1998)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Var, France
Discovery Chart Position: #440
Variraptor mechinorum
(The Mechin's Var River Plunderer)Etymology
Variraptor is derived from Latin "Var" (for the Var River and the administrative department of Var where it was discovered) and "raptor" (plunderer, snatcher robber or thief).
The
species epithet,
mechinorum, honours its discoverers (see below).
Discovery
The first remains of
Variraptor were discovered in the Grès à Reptiles Formation at La Bastide Neuve, Fox-Amphoux, Var, France, by amateur palaeontologists Patrick Méchin and Annie Méchin-Salessy between 1992 and 1995.
The
holotype consists of the last back vertebra (MDE-D168) attached to a sacrum of five fused vertebrae (MDE-D169). Referred material includes a right humerus (MDE-D158) and an ilium (CM-645), also from Bastide Neuve, a thighbone (MDE -D49) from the Métisson locality at Fox-Amphoux, and a back vertebra (MDE-DOI) and a tail vertebra (unumbered) from Roques-Hautes, Bouches-du-Rhône.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Campanian-Maastrichtian
Age range: 73-67 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 2 meters
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: 30 Kg
Diet: Carnivore
References
• Le Loeuff J, Buffetaut E, Méchin P, Méchin-Salessy A (1992) "The first record of dromaeosaurid dinosaurs (Saurischia, Theropoda) in the Maastrichtian of southern Europe: palaeobiogeographical implications".
Bull. Soc. Géol. France, 163(3): 337-343.
• Le Loeuff J and Buffetaut E (1998) "
A new dromaeosaurid theropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Southern France".
Oryctos, 1: 105-111.
• Allain R and Taquet P (2000) "A new genus of Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of France".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20(2): 404-407. [coins Pyroraptor.]
• Chanthasit P and Buffetaut E (2009) "New data on the Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of southern France".
Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France 180(2): 145-154.
• Rauhut O (2000) "The interrelationships and evolution of basal theropods (Dinosauria, Saurischia)".
Special Papers in Palaeontology, No.69.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
VARIRAPTOR :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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