Small, stocky dinosaur related to Velociraptor named as new species

A new kind of Velociraptor-The dinosaurs of the Gobi desert type in Mongolia had giant claws and exceptionally thick hands, which may have allowed him to remove larger prey.

The name of the species, Shri Rapaxwas inspired by “the raptor characteristics that we see in the hand,” explains Andrea Cau, an unconnected paleontologist based in Italy.

Shri Rapax Measures approximately 2 meters long and comes from the formation of Djadochta, which was a land of tentacular sand dunes and intermittent lakes 75 and 71 million years ago.

It was unearthed in 2010 and introduced the fence in private collections in Japan and the United Kingdom before being brought back recently in Mongolia. New works on the fossil by CAU and his colleagues have revealed bones that have been buried before in layers of rock, including the extraordinary hand.

“The extremely robust [heavily built] hand structure and in particular the elongated claw of Shri Rapax Indicate an adaptation for a powerful grip, “said the member of the Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig team at North Carolina State University.” Such a configuration has probably allowed him to seize and retain relatively important prey. »»

The medium claw measures 79.5 millimeters, which is almost twice as long as the same claw in closely linked species Mongolian velociraptor.

“Compared to Velociraptor – which is roughly the same body size – The hand is 150% more robust and the claw is longer, “explains Cau.” This suggests [it] was adapted to chase stronger and more robust animals than those generally preferred by his loved ones. »»

While the skull and several vertebrae were lost before repatriation, Cau and its colleagues were able to digitally rebuild the missing parts using scans of the fossil made in 2016. The results show that the skull was probably short and robust, which indicates that it also had a stronger bite than many of its peers.

James Napoli at Stony Brook University in New York would like to see the skull and the missing vertebrae recovered. “The skull in particular is very important for our understanding of this animal, its possible way of life and its position in the history of the evolution of the dinosaurs of the theropode,” he says.