Utahraptor
? Utahraptor ostrommaysorum Conservation status: Fossil | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Utahraptor ostrommaysorum Kirkland, Gaston & Burge, 1993 |
Utahraptor ostrommaysorum ("Utah thief") is the largest known member of the theropod Dinosaur family Dromaeosauridae from the Barremian stage of the Lower Cretaceous period, and it was also one of the earliest. Utahraptor was the subject of the book Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker.
Discovery and species
Kirkland, Gaston, and Burge discovered this dromaeosaurid in 1993 in Grand County, Utah, within the Cedar Mountain Formation. The type specimen is currently housed at the College of Eastern Utah; although Brigham Young University currently houses the largest collection of Utahraptor fossils. In a remarkable coincidence, a species much like it had recently been invented for the film Jurassic Park.The Type species, Utahraptor ostrommaysorum, was named for the American paleontologist John Ostrom, from Yale University's Peabody Museum, and Chris Mays, of Dinamation International.
The dinosaur is also one of the subjects of Dinosaur Comics, an online comic done by Ryan North.
Characteristics
Like other dromaeosaurids, Utahraptor had a huge curved claw on the second toe that could get up to 23 cm (almost 9 inches) long. The animal probably grasped its prey with its forelimbs while kicking with the hindlimbs. Recents tests on reconstructions of similar but smaller Velociraptor claws suggest that claws of this type were used for stabbing, not slashing. Up to 7 meters (20 feet) long and 700 kg (1500lbs) in weight, Utahraptor would have been a formidable predator (Kirkland et al. 1993). It has been speculated that packs might have been able to bring down a sauropod, although it is nearly impossible to know whether Utahraptor actually did live in packs.Classification
It is thought that Utahraptor may be related to Dromaeosaurus (Kirkland et al. 1993) and the giant Mongolian dromaeosaurid Achillobator.A slightly more detailed classification:
- Order Saurischia ("lizard hipped" dinosaurs)
- Suborder Theropoda (bipedal carnivores)
- Clade Tetanurae (advanced theropods)
- Clade Coelurosauria
- Clade Maniraptora (modern birds are maniraptors)
- Clade Deinonychosauria (switchblade like claws)
- Family Dromaeosauridae (the "raptors")
- Genus Utahraptor
- Clade Maniraptora (modern birds are maniraptors)
- Clade Coelurosauria
- Clade Tetanurae (advanced theropods)
- Suborder Theropoda (bipedal carnivores)