Variraptor (lat.) Is a genus of dinosaurs from the dromaeosaurid family that lived during the Upper Cretaceous era ( 83.5-70.6 million years ago) on the territory of modern France [1] .
| † variraptor |
Skeleton reconstruction |
| Scientific classification |
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| No rank : | Bilateral symmetric |
| Infraclass : | Archosauromorphs |
| No rank : | Archosauriformes |
| Group : | † Maniraptoriformes |
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| International Scientific Name |
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Variraptor Le Loeuff & Buffetaut, 1998 |
| Single species |
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† Variraptor mechinorum
Le Loffff & Buffetaut, 1998 |
Geochronology83.5-70.6 Ma | million years | Period | Era | Eon |
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| 2.588 | Even | | | Ka | F
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th | | 23.03 | Neogene | | 66.0 | Paleogene | | 145.5 | a piece of chalk | M
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th | | 199.6 | Yura | | 251 | Triassic | | 299 | Permian | P
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th | | 359.2 | Carbon | | 416 | Devonian | | 443.7 | Silur | | 488.3 | Ordovician | | 542 | Cambrian | | 4570 | Precambrian |
◄ Nowadays◄ Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction◄ Triassic extinction◄ Perm mass extinction◄ Devonian extinction◄ Ordovician-Silurian extinction◄ Cambrian explosion |
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Possible
Variraptor bones
Content
Between 1992 and 1995, amateur paleontologists Patrick Meshen and Annie Meshen-Salessi discovered the remains of a small theropod in the Grès à Reptiles formation ( Campanian - Maastrichian longlines) in La Bastide Neuve, near Fox Amfou . The first specimen was found in 1992 and identified as the remains of the dubious genus Elopteryx [2] . The second discovery, made in 1997, suggested the discovery of a new species [3] . In 1998, Jean-Le-Loof and Erik Buffetto named the type species Variraptor mechinorum . The generic name comes from the name of the river Var in the Alpes-Maritime Alpes department in the Provence region in the south of France, with the addition of the Latin lat. raptor - "predator, thief." The specific name is given in honor of a pair of discoverer discoveries [4] .
The genus is based on three type specimens: the spinal vertebra (MDE-D168), the sacrum (MDE-D169) with five accretebral vertebrae and the ilium (CM-645). The fossils are part of the Musée des Dinosaures d'Espéraza collection and the private collection of Méchins.
Additional material includes the right humerus (MDE-D158) with a delto-pectoral crest more developed than that of any other known theropod, which indicates a strong grasping function of the forearm. Other bones attributed to Variraptor include the femurs and various vertebrae.
Incomplete remains contain signs of dromaeosaurids, such as the shape of the vertebrae and the humerus, and resemble deinonychus . An adult animal may have been a little smaller than a deinonich - about 2 meters long. However, a detailed description of the fossils found is not yet possible.
In 2000, Ronan Allen and Philip Tack gave the name Pyroraptor to the second small theropod found in the same layers. They also argued that the name Variraptor was nomen dubium , since the type sample did not have a single diagnosable trait.
In 2009, Buffetto and Fomfen Chantasi defended the validity of the name Variraptor , claiming that the animal had a set of unique features. The absence of overlapping parts made it impossible to establish whether the name Pyroraptor is a subjective junior synonym, but the presence of two different types of the ulna in the southern French material clearly indicates two different types [5] .
Le Luffe and Buffetto described Variraptor as a maniraptor of the suborder of theropods of the dromaeosaurid family; This classification is generally accepted. However, in 2000, Oliver Rohat expressed doubts about this classification and included the genus in celurosaurus [6] .
- ↑ Variraptor (English) . Paleobiology Database . (Checked December 28, 2016) .
- Lo Le Loff, J., Buffetaut, E., Mechin, P., Mechin-Salessy, A. The first record of the dromaeosaurid dinosaurs (Saurischia, Theropoda) in the Maastrichtian of Southern Europe: palaeobiogeographical implications (English) // Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. - 1992. - no. 163 . - P. 337-343 .
- ↑ Eric Buffetaut, Jean Le Loff, Lionel Cavin, Sylvain Duffaud, Emmanuel Gheerbrant, Yves Laurent, Michel Martin, Jean-Claude Rage, Haiyan Tong & Denis Vasse. Les vertébrés continentaux du Crétacé supérieur du Sud de la France: un aperçu sur des découvertes récentes (fr.) // Geobios. - 1997. - Vol. 30 , n o 1 . - P. 101-108 .
- ↑ Le Loeuff, Jean, Buffetaut, Eric. A new dromaeosaurid theropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Southern France (Eng.) // Oryctos. - 1999. - No. 1 . - P. 105-112 .
- ↑ Chanthasit, P., and Buffetaut, E. New data on the Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Southern France (Eng.) // Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. - 2009. - Vol. 180 , no. 2 - P. 145-154 .
- ↑ Rauhut, O. The interrelationships and evolution of the basal theropods (Dinosauria, Saurischia) (Eng.) // Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: PhD dissertation. - University of Bristol, Bristol, 2000. - Vol. 20 , no. 2 P. 404-407 .
