Orkoraptor

Orkoraptor Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 70 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Family:	Neovenatoridae
Genus:	Orkoraptor Novas, Ezcurra & Lecuona, 2008
Species
O. burkei Novas, Ezcurra & Lecuona, 2008 (type)

Orkoraptor is a genus of large theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period (early Maastrichtian age) of Argentina. It is known from incomplete fossil remains including parts of the skull, teeth, tail vertebrae, and a partial tibia. The specialized teeth resemble those of some maniraptoriform theropods, namely the deinonychosaurs and ornithomimiforms. This and other anatomical features led the authors who described it (Novas, Ezcurra, and Lecuona) to suggest that it was a coelurosaur more advanced than the tyrannosaurids. However, subsequent studies found it to be a late-surviving allosaur.^[1] Found in the Pari Aike Formation of Southern Patagonia, it is one of the southernmost carnivorous dinosaurs known from South America.^[2]

The name Orkoraptor means "Toothed River thief", and was derived from the Aoniken "Orr-Korr", the local name for the La Leona River, located near the original fossil site.

References

1. ^ Benson, R.B.J.; Carrano, M.T; Brusatte, S.L. (2010). "A new clade of archaic large-bodied predatory dinosaurs (Theropoda: Allosauroidea) that survived to the latest Mesozoic". Naturwissenschaften 97 (1): 71–78. Bibcode 2010NW.....97...71B. doi:10.1007/s00114-009-0614-x. PMID 19826771. 
2. ^ Novas, F.E.; Ezcurra, M.D.; and Lecuona, A. (2008). "Orkoraptor burkei nov. gen. et sp., a large theropod from the Maastrichtian Pari Aike Formation, Southern Patagonia, Argentina". Cretaceous Research 29 (3): 468–480. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2008.01.001. 

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