Open Paleo

Pyroraptor

Allain & Taquet, 2000 PIE-ro-RAP-tor

From Greek pyr (fire) and Latin raptor (thief); meaning "fire thief", named because the first fossils were found after a forest fire.

83.6–66.0 million years ago Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Pyroraptor is an extinct genus of paravian dinosaur, probably a dromaeosaurid or unenlagiid, from the Late Cretaceous Ibero-Armorican island, of what is now southern France. It lived during the late Campanian and early Maastrichtian stages, approximately 72 million years ago. It is known from a single partial specimen that was found in Provence in 1992, after a forest fire. The animal was named Pyroraptor olympius by Allain and Taquet in 2000.

Under dispute

Pyroraptor is a fragmentary European dromaeosaurid whose finer placement is uncertain. It has been treated as a labile wildcard taxon (Turner and colleagues, 2012), placed as a basal dromaeosaurid (Cau and Madzia, 2021), and suggested to have unenlagiine-like foot morphology (Longrich and colleagues, 2022). It is placed at Dromaeosauridae incertae sedis.

Diagnosis

  1. Deep depression on lateral face of bowed ulna below proximal extremity, unknown in other theropods
  2. Second metatarsal ventrally concave, differing from other Dromaeosauridae
  3. Large ungual claw strongly curved with asymmetrical claw grooves, medial groove ending dorsally at tip
  4. Metatarsal II distal end deeply grooved and asymmetrical with medial condyle larger than lateral (dromaeosaur synapomorphy)
  5. Tooth serrations restricted to posterior margin and basal half of anterior carina, finely serrated anteriorly
  6. Second phalanx compressed laterally with ventral projection (heel) and deeply grooved ginglymus

Species

Pyroraptor olympius Allain & Taquet, 2000

Type species

Named for Mont Olympe, the mountain in Provence, France, at the foot of which the animal's remains were unearthed.

Holotype
MNHN BO001 , Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
Material
Complete ungual phalanx of left second pedal digit, with paratypes including second phalanx of right second pedal digit, left second metatarsal, right ungual phalanx, right ulna, and teeth.
Horizon
Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation, Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
Locality
La Boucharde, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

References

  1. Allain, R.; Taquet, P. (2000). A new genus of Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of France. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20(2): 404-407. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0404:angodd]2.0.co;2 allain2000a
  2. Cau, A.; Madzia, D. (2021). The phylogenetic affinities and morphological peculiarities of the bird-like dinosaur Borogovia gracilicrus from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. PeerJ 9: e12640. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.12640

    Placed Pyroraptor as a basal dromaeosaurid.

    cau2021a
  3. Turner, A. H.; Makovicky, P. J.; Norell, M. A. (2012). A Review of Dromaeosaurid Systematics and Paravian Phylogeny. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 371: 1-206. doi:10.1206/748.1

    Treated Pyroraptor as a labile wildcard taxon in dromaeosaurid systematics review.

    turner2012a
  4. Longrich, N. R.; Martill, D. M.; Jacobs, M. L. (2022). A new dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Wessex Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Barremian) of the Isle of Wight, and implications for European palaeobiogeography. Cretaceous Research 134. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105123

    Suggested Pyroraptor had unenlagiine-like foot morphology.

    longrich2022a
  5. Allain, R.; Pereda-Suberbiola, X. (2003). Dinosaurs of France. Comptes Rendus Palevol 2(1): 27-44. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/S1631-0683(03)00002-2

    Places La Boucharde in the Aix-en-Provence Basin, the step that carries the formation, since the describing paper names none.

    allain2003a
  6. Díez Díaz, V.; Garcia, G.; Pereda-Suberbiola, X.; Jentgen-Ceschino, B.; Stein, K.; Godefroit, P.; Valentin, X. (2018). The titanosaurian dinosaur Atsinganosaurus velauciensis (Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of southern France. New material, phylogenetic affinities, and palaeobiogeographical implications. Cretaceous Research 91: 429-456. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.06.015

    Names the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles as the basin's upper Campanian formation.

    díezdíaz2018a
  7. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Ties this genus to that formation by name.

    jones2026c