Temporal range: Early - Late Cretaceous[1]130–66 Ma
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Diagram showing the skull and skeleton of Murusraptor
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Dinosauria
Clade:
Saurischia
Clade:
Theropoda
Clade:
Avetheropoda
Clade:
†Megaraptora Benson, Carrano & Brusatte, 2010
Type species
†Megaraptor namunhuaiquii
Novas, 1998
Subgroups
†Aoniraptor[2]
†Datanglong?
†Fukuiraptor[3]
†Phuwiangvenator[4]
†Rapator[5]
†Vayuraptor?[5]
†Vectaerovenator?
†Walgettosuchus?
†Bahariasaurus?[2]
†Chilantaisaurus?
†Deltadromeus?[2]
†Gualicho?
†Megaraptoridae Novas et al., 2013
†Aerosteon
†Australovenator[6]
†Maip
†Megaraptor
†Murusraptor
†Orkoraptor
†Tratayenia
Megaraptora is a clade of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs with controversial relationships to other tetanuran theropods. Its derived members, the Megaraptoridae are noted for their large hand claws and powerfully-built forelimbs, which are usually reduced in size in other large theropods.
Megaraptorans are incompletely known, and no complete megaraptoran skeleton has been found. However, they still possessed a number of unique features. Their forelimbs were large and strongly built, and the ulna bone had a unique shape in members of the family Megaraptoridae, a subset of megaraptorans which excludes Fukuiraptor and Phuwiangvenator. The first two fingers were elongated, with massive curved claws, while the third finger was small.[7] Megaraptoran skull material is very incomplete, but a juvenile Megaraptor described in 2014 preserved a portion of the snout, which was long and slender.[8] Leg bones referred to megaraptorans were also quite slender and similar to those of coelurosaurs adapted for running.[7] Although megaraptorans were thick-bodied theropods, their bones were heavily pneumatized, or filled with air pockets. The vertebrae, ribs, and the ilium bone of the hip were pneumatized to an extent which was very rare among theropods, only seen elsewhere in taxa such as Neovenator.[9] Other characteristic features include opisthocoelous neck vertebrae and compsognathid-like teeth.[7]
Megaraptorans were originally placed as basal tetanurans as part of the family Neovenatoridae within the allosauroid clade Carcharodontosauria.[9] By the early 2020s, many studies had come to find that megaraptorans instead represented members of Coelurosauria, with their exact position within this group being uncertain.[10] However, other studies still support an allosauroid classification.[11]
Megaraptorans were most diverse in the early Late Cretaceous period of South America, particularly Patagonia. However, they had a widespread distribution. Phuwiangvenator and Fukuiraptor, the most basal and second most basal known members of the group, lived in Thailand and Japan, respectively. Megaraptoran material is also common in Australia,[12] and the largest known predatory dinosaur from the continent, Australovenator, was a megaraptoran.[13]
^Novas, F., Agnolin, F., Rozadilla, S., Aranciaga-Rolando, A., Brissón-Eli, F., Motta, M., Cerroni, M., Ezcurra, M., Martinelli, A., D'Angelo, J., Álvarez-Herrera, G., Gentil, A., Bogan, S., Chimento, N., García-Marsà, J., Lo Coco, G., Miquel, S., Brito, F., Vera, E., Loinaze, V., Fernandez, M., & Salgado, L. (2019). Paleontological discoveries in the Chorrillo Formation (upper Campanian-lower Maastrichtian, Upper Cretaceous), Santa Cruz Province, Patagonia, Argentina. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, 21(2), 217-293.
^ abcMotta, Matías J.; Aranciaga Rolando, Alexis M.; Rozadilla, Sebastián; Agnolín, Federico E.; Chimento, Nicolás R.; Egli, Federico Brissón; Novas, Fernando E. (June 2016). "New theropod fauna from the Upper Cretaceous (Huincul Formation) of northwestern Patagonia, Argentina". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 71: 231–253 – via ResearchGate.
^Currie, P.J.; Azuma, Y. (2006). "New specimens, including a growth series, of Fukuiraptor (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous Kitadani Quarry of Japan". J. Paleont. Soc. Korea. 22 (1): 173–193 – via ResearchGate.
^Samathi, A.; Chanthasit, P.; Martin Sander, P. (May 2019). "Two new basal coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous Sao Khua Formation of Thailand". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. doi:10.4202/app.00540.2018.
^ abWhite, Matt A.; Bell, Phil R.; Poropat, Stephen F.; Pentland, Adele H.; Rigby, Samantha L.; Cook, Alex G.; Sloan, Trish; Elliott, David A. (2020). "New theropod remains and implications for megaraptorid diversity in the Winton Formation (lower Upper Cretaceous), Queensland, Australia". Royal Society Open Science. 7 (1): 191462. Bibcode:2020RSOS....791462W. doi:10.1098/rsos.191462. PMC 7029900. PMID 32218963.
^Cite error: The named reference Apesteguia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abcNovas, Fernando E.; Agnolin, Federico L.; Ezcurra, Martin D.; Porfiri, Juan; Canale, Juan I. (October 2013). "Evolution of the carnivorous dinosaurs during the Cretaceous: The evidence from Patagonia". Cretaceous Research. 45: 174–215. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2013.04.001. hdl:11336/102037. ISSN 0195-6671.
^Cite error: The named reference Porfiri-etal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abCite error: The named reference bensonetal2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"A reappraisal of the cranial and mandibular osteology of the spinosaurid Irritator challengeri (Dinosauria: Theropoda)". doi:10.26879/1242.
^Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Megaraptora is a clade of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs with controversial relationships to other tetanuran theropods. Its derived members, the Megaraptoridae...
interpretations appearing in the same paper. The placement of Siats within Megaraptora itself has also been a source of controversy, with recent analyses placing...
uniting some primitive members of the group such as Neovenator with the Megaraptora, a group of theropods with controversial affinities. Other studies recover...
some phylogenetic analyses find it to be a more derived member of the Megaraptora, possibly being part of the main Megaraptoridae family itself. Australovenator...
2012). "Premier enregistrement de Megaraptora (Theropoda, Neovenatoridae) au Brésil" [First record of Megaraptora (Theropoda, Neovenatoridae) from Brazil]...
(shown below as "Clade B"). Like some previous analyses by other authors, Megaraptora is nested within Coelurosauria, as the sister taxon to Tyrannosauroidea...
(shown below as "Clade B"). Like some previous analyses by other authors, Megaraptora is nested within Coelurosauria, as the sister taxon to Tyrannosauroidea...
the spinosaurs, called the Megaraptora, within the allosaur family Neovenatoridae. A later analysis has placed Megaraptora, including Aerosteon, within...
extinct genus of theropod belonging to either Carcharodontosauria or Megaraptora. It existed during the Early Cretaceous (Barremian-Albian) in what is...
adopted in a 2010 review. Some studies have suggested that the clade Megaraptora, usually considered to be allosauroids, are basal tyrannosauroids. However...
carnivores) †Neovenatoridae ("new hunters"; may include megaraptorans) †Megaraptora (theropods with large hand claws; potentially tyrannosauroids) Coelurosauria...
the description of Eotyrannus' placement in the family suggests that Megaraptora are tyrannosauroids as well, even though it was found that Eotyrannus...
Below is a cladogram reconstructing the position of Fukuiraptor in the Megaraptora as per Delcourt and Grillo, 2018. In the Kitadani Formation, where fossils...
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