Open Paleo

Condorraptor

Rauhut, 2005 CON-dohr-RAP-tuh

From Cerro Condor (a nearby village in Argentina) + Latin raptor, 'robber/thief'; means 'robber from Cerro Condor'

174.7–168.2 million years ago Aalenian–Bajocian, Middle Jurassic
Middle Jurassic stages

Condorraptor is an extinct genus of megalosauroid theropod dinosaur. Its genus name means 'robber from Cerro Condor', referencing a nearby village, while its species name, currumili, is named after Hipolito Currumil, the landowner and discoverer of the locality. It was among the earliest large South American theropods, having been found in Middle Jurassic strata of the Cañadón Asfalto Formation in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin of Argentina. The type species, described in 2005, is Condorraptor currumili. It is based on a tibia, with an associated partial skeleton that may belong to the same individual. Initially described as a basal tetanuran, Benson (2010) found it to be a piatnitzkysaurid megalosauroid and the sister taxon of Piatnitzkysaurus, a finding supported by later studies.

Diagnosis

  1. Posterior incision between fibular condyle and medial part of proximal tibia absent (apomorphic reversal of neotheropodan synapomorphy)
  2. Large, shallow depression laterally on the base of the cnemial crest
  3. Pleurocoel in anterior cervical vertebrae placed behind the posteroventral corner of the parapophyses (posteroventral rather than dorsal/posterodorsal position)
  4. Large nutrient foramina on the lateral side of the ischial peduncle of the ilium
  5. Metatarsal IV with a distinct step dorsally between shaft and distal articular facet

Species

Condorraptor currumili Rauhut, 2005

Type species

Named for Hipolito Currumil, the landowner who discovered the fossil locality in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin of Argentina.

Holotype
MPEF-PV 1672 , Museo Paleontológico "Egidio Feruglio"
Material
Incomplete left tibia
Horizon
Cañadón Asfalto Formation, Aalenian–Bajocian, Middle Jurassic , 174.7–168.2 million years ago
Locality
Las Chacritas, Chubut, Argentina Cúneo and colleagues (2013) date the strata above the uppermost basalt flow in the Cerro Cóndor area, which hold this taxon, "essentially early Middle Jurassic in age (Aalenian to probably Bajocian)", adding that the data "do not preclude a latest Toarcian age for the strata closest to the basalt horizons". The "Middle Jurassic (Callovian)" of Rauhut (2005) is the older age of the whole formation.

References

  1. Rauhut, O. W. M. (2005). Osteology and relationships of a new theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Patagonia. Palaeontology 48(1): 87-110. Wiley. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2004.00436.x rauhut2005b
  2. Cúneo, R.; Ramezani, J.; Scasso, R.; Pol, D.; Escapa, I.; Zavattieri, A. M.; Bowring, S. A. (2013). High-precision U-Pb geochronology and a new chronostratigraphy for the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, Chubut, central Patagonia: implications for terrestrial faunal and floral evolution in Jurassic. Gondwana Research 24(3-4): 1267-1275. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2013.01.010

    Dates the interval overlying the uppermost basalt flow at Cerro Cóndor, which holds this taxon, as Aalenian to probably Bajocian, with a latest Toarcian age not precluded near the basalt.

    cúneo2013a
  3. Benson, R. B. J. (2010). A description of Megalosaurus bucklandii (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Bathonian of the UK and the relationships of Middle Jurassic theropods. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158(4): 882-935. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00569.x

    Recovered Condorraptor as a piatnitzkysaurid megalosauroid, sister to Piatnitzkysaurus.

    benson2010c