Tachiraptor
Name:
Tachiraptor
(T�chira thief).
Phonetic: Tak-he-rap-tor.
Named By: M. C. Langer, A. D. Rinc�n,
J. Ramezani, A. Sol�rzano & O. W. M. Rauhut -
2014.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda.
Species: T. admirabilis
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Tibia 25 centimetres long. Further
details uncertain but total body length roughly estimated to have been
about 1.5 meters long.
Known locations: Venezuela - La Quinta formation.
Time period: Hettangian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Tibia (lower leg bone)
and partial hip.
2014
saw the first instance of a dinosaur genus being described as coming
from Venezuela. This genus was Laquintasaura,
a small plant eating
ornithischian dinosaur, fossils of which were discovered where a road
was being cut into the Venezuelan landscape. However, when
Laquintasaura was discovered, the teeth of small
theropod dinosaurs
were also found associated with it, hinting at a clue to a predator
prey interaction. Then later in 2014, a shin bone of a theropod
dinosaur was recovered and used to establish a new dinosaur genus;
Tachiraptor.
Aside
from the shin bone (technically known as a tibia), a partial hip
found nearby was also assigned to the genus. Unfortunately we still
don’t know a lot about what kind of theropod dinosaur Tachiraptor
was,
and this makes estimates of size and body form highly speculative in
the absence of further fossil discoveries. Tachiraptor
has however
been loosely reconstructed to be about one and a half meters in length.
Further reading
- New dinosaur (Theropoda, stem-Averostra) from the earliest
Jurassic of the La Quinta formation, Venezuelan Andes. - Royal
Society Open Science 1(2):1-15. - M. C. Langer, A.
D. Rinc�n, J. Ramezani, A. Sol�rzano & O. W.
M. Rauhut - 2014.
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