Fukuiraptor
Name: Fukuiraptor
(Fukui thief).
Phonetic: Foo-kwee-rap-tor.
Named By: Azuma & Currie - 2000.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Allosauroidea, Neovenatoridae.
Species: F. kitadaniensis (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: 4.2 meters long, possibly a juvenile.
Known locations: Japan, Honshu Island, Fukui
Prefecture - Kitadani Formation.
Time period: Barremian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Single specimen.
Fukuiraptor
is a dinosaur that really does not deserve the 'raptor' part of its
name. This is because when it was discovered, one of the large hand
claws was interpreted as being a 'killing claw' on the second toe,
similar to other dromaeosaurids
that have the epithet raptor. Later
analysis resulted in a reconstruction that had the claw in its correct
place, at the end of the fingers. Now Fukuiraptor
is known to have
been a carnosaur like Allosaurus.
Sizing
Fukuiraptor has
actually been quite difficult. Initially it was thought that the
Fukuiraptor holotype was a juvenile, but other
remains from other
Fukuiraptor individuals indicate the juveniles were
actually smaller.
Either the Fukuiraptor holotype was actually an
adult, in which case
it would actually be quite small for a carnosaur, or Fukuiraptor
had
a growth curve similar to tyrannosaurids
where they spent several years
very small, until growing large over a small number of years. Only
further remains will allow us to know for sure.
Further reading
- A new carnosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of
Japan. - Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 37:1735-1753. - Y. Azuma
& P. J. Currie - 2000.
- New specimens, including a growth series, of Fukuiraptor
(Dinosauria,
Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous Kitadani Quarry of Japan. -
Journal Paleontology Society Korea 22 (1): 173–193. - P. J. Currie
& Y. Asuma - 2006.
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