Utahraptor
| Utahraptor Temporal range: Early Cretaceous
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| Life restoration of Utahraptor ostrommaysi. | |
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| Genus: | Utahraptor |
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U. ostrommaysi Kirkland, Gaston & Burge, 1993 (type) | |
Utahraptor (meaning "Utah's predator"[1]) is the largest known member of the theropod dinosaur family Dromaeosauridae, and dates from the upper Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous period (132-119 million years ago).[1]
Discovery
James Kirkland, Rob Gaston, and Don Burge discovered Utahraptor in 1993 in Grand County, Utah, within the Cedar Mountain Formation.[1] The type specimen is currently housed at the College of Eastern Utah, although Brigham Young University currently houses the largest collection of Utahraptor fossils.
The type species (and only known species of Utahraptor), Utahraptor ostrommaysi, was named for the American paleontologist John Ostrom, from Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History, and Chris Mays, of Dinamation International. Sculptor Raymond Persinger was included in James Kirkland's original abstract referencing Mr. Persinger's concepts regarding the claw structure.
Like other dromaeosaurids, Utahraptor had a huge curved claw on the second toe, one is preserved at 22 centimetres (8.7 inches) in length and is thought to reach 24 centimetres (9.4 inches) restored. Recent tests on reconstructions of the smaller Velociraptor suggest that claws of this type were used for stabbing or suffocating its prey, not slashing into their hide.[2] Up to 6.5 m (21 ft) long, 2 m (6.6 ft) tall, and 700 kg (1,500 lb) in weight, Utahraptor would have been a formidable predator.[1]
It is thought that Utahraptor may be closely related to the much smaller Dromaeosaurus and the giant Mongolian dromaeosaurid Achillobator.[1] [3]
In popular culture
The novel Raptor Red, by Bob Bakker, told the story of a pack of Utahraptor. Other speculative reconstructions of Utahraptor lifestyle and behavior were presented in the BBC television series Walking with Dinosaurs and the History series Jurassic Fight Club. Both of the television series portrayed Utahraptor as featherless, and the History series contained further anatomical inaccuracies including pronated hands. In another novel, Raptor, author Paul Zindel gave Utahraptor fictional characteristics including poison-secreting claws.
A Utahraptor is one of the main characters in the popular webcomic Dinosaur Comics. This Utahraptor appears sans-feathers.
Gallery
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Model of a Utahraptor foot, showing specialised claw
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Restoration of a Utahraptor skeleton, North American Museum of Ancient Life
References
- ^ a b c d e Kirkland, J.I., Burge, D., and Gaston, R. (1993). "A large dromaeosaur [Theropoda] from the Lower Cretaceous of Utah." Hunteria, 2(10): 1-16.
- ^ BBC - Science & Nature - The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs
- ^ Turner, Alan H. (2007). "A basal dromaeosaurid and size evolution preceding avian flight". Science. 317: 1378–1381. doi:10.1126/science.1144066. PMID 17823350.
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External links
- Utahraptor in The Dinosaur Encyclopaedia at Dino Russ's Lair
