Meet the Megaraptors
Paleontology researchers found the remains of four dinosaurs in the “Las Chinas” valley in Chile, one of which is believed to belong to a species known as “Megaraptor” or “large thief” with a large and massive body.
Key Points
Called “a large thief of a dinosaur genus with large legs,” its fossils were first discovered in Argentina and resembled the “Tyrannosaurus” species known as “T-Rex.”
This huge dinosaur was called the “large thief” because of its carnivorous diet.
Press reports stated that the researchers of the “Chilean Antarctic Institute” found the dinosaur fossils at the end of 2021, so they were transferred to a local laboratory and subjected to research and observation by a scientific team consisting of scientists from the University of Chile and the University of Texas at Austin in the United States.
According to experts, one of the fossils is a dinosaur of the genus Tyrannosaurus, known for its teeth and other prominent parts of the giant animal as well as its prominent claws.
These huge, fearsome-legged animals lived on Earth between 66 and 75 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period.
Jared Amodeo, a palaeontology researcher at the University of Chile, explained, “One of the features that confirmed the fossils to us is that they belong to the species (Megaraptor), or the hooked teeth on the back of a giant predator.”
The researchers claim that the fossils found are characterised by an “evolutionary character,” meaning that they belong to a branch of the genus “Ioninlogia,” which looks like a bird due to its wing-like arms.
Megaraptors have a troubled and lengthy history
On the basis of a sizable sickle-claw discovered in Argentina, it was first referred to as the largest dromaeosaurid (thus the name). I really recall hearing rumours that the recently reported Unenlogia might be a juvenile version that, oddly, sprang from the same time and location as the truly enormous Unenlogian dromaeosaurid, Astroraptor. Not to be mixed with with Astrovenator, which is covered in more detail below.
The 12-year-old Jurassic Park fanboys who had already chosen Megaraptor as their own mascot would have their dreams dashed when a complete Megaraptor front end was found. What is it then? The first instance that comes to mind is that of Baryonyx, which means “big claw” and was named after a similarly sized claw that was once believed to have originated from a dromaeosaur’s foot but was later discovered to have originated from a hand (have we learned nothing?). Spinosaurs, of which Baryonyx was a member, were distinguished by their huge hand claws. Was Megaraptor a spinosaurian, then? Over the years, other theropod classifications for Megaraptor have included spinosaur, carcharodontosaurid, and a weird, novel tetanuran theropod.
With several innovations from “Stralia” during the past year, the picture has become more evident. The first thing that stood out about Megaraptor was a gigantic claw that curiously resembled a hand claw and was a more complete version of an animal named Australovenator. Studies have revealed that Australovenator was an allosaurus that was related to both carcharodontosaurids and Allosaurus, making it a viable contender to be Megaraptor’s ancestor.
A recent study published online, however, completely clarifies the situation. After doing a thorough phylogenetic analysis of allosauroids, Benson, Carrano, and Brusatte discovered a monophyletic clade that contained almost every eccentric and misfit theropod known to science. Neovenatoridae is the name of the new clade that comprises the mysterious Chilanthysaurus, which was previously believed to be a spinosaur, and the namesake Neovenator, which is sometimes considered to be an advanced allosaurid or a primitive carcharodontosaurid. The unranked, advanced clade Megaraptora, which includes Megaraptor and Australovenator as well as the enduring phylogenetic stragglers Erosion, Fucuiraptor, and Orcorraptor, is home to Neovenatorids that are more advanced than those two. This clade is a nice complement to the dromaeosaurid clade Microraptoria. The fact that Orkoraptor, which was previously believed to be a coelurosaur, was really identified is particularly intriguing since its very recent existence—only 70 million years ago, at the end of the Mesozoic—indicates that derived allosaurs survived until the end of the period. Rather than dying in the middle of the Cretaceous, as was once believed.
Overall, this new paper is really significant. Although none of the constituent species are particularly novel, they do show a previously unknown new clade of theropods. All megaraptors share a light, sleek body with hollow bones that are frequently visible (as in the extreme case of Aerosteon), relatively long fore and hind limbs that indicate a lifestyle of quick running, and enormous, hooked claws on the hands. taking the prey. Basically, coelurosaurian carnivores ruled the northern continents during and after their conventionally carnosaurian relatives, the carcharodontosaurids, whereas this sophisticated line of “coelurosaur-mimicking” allosaurs persisted in the Southern Hemisphere.
Several times, I had to restrain myself from putting “Carcharodontosaurian” in place of “-id.” Carcharodontosauridae is the name of the clade that includes both neoventorids and carcharodontosaurids. Megaraptor was a carcharodontosaurid, not only a carcharodontosaurid in the strict sense.
