Open Paleo

Santanaraptor

Kellner, 1999 sahn-TAHN-uh-RAP-tor

Named after the Santana Formation of Brazil where the fossil was found, combined with Latin raptor (thief); meaning "Santana Formation thief".

121.4–113.2 million years ago Aptian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Santanaraptor is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived in South America during the Early Cretaceous (late Aptian-early Albian), about 112 million years ago.

Under dispute

The placement of Santanaraptor is contested. Holtz (2004) suggested it may be a tyrannosauroid, and Porfiri and colleagues (2014) and Delcourt and Grillo (2018) recover it as one; Delcourt and colleagues (2025) recover it as an early megaraptoran within Tyrannosauroidea under equal weights, but prefer an earliest-branching maniraptoromorph position, with Tanycolagreus, under implied weights. Dal Sasso and Maganuco (2011) recover it as a basal maniraptoran, and Novas and colleagues (2012) find it unstable between a basal tyrannosauroid and a basal maniraptoriform and prune it.

Species

Santanaraptor placidus Kellner, 1999

Type species

Named for Placido Cidade Nuvens, who founded the Museu de Paleontologia da Universidade Regional do Cariri in Brazil.

Holotype
MN 4802-V , Museu Nacional
Horizon
upper Romualdo Formation, Aptian, Early Cretaceous , 121.4–113.2 million years ago
Locality
Santana do Cariri, Ceará, Brazil

References

  1. Kellner, A. W. A. (1996). Fossilized theropod soft tissue. Nature 379: 32. doi:10.1038/379032a0

    Reports preserved muscle tissue and possible blood vessels in the Santanaraptor holotype.

    kellner1996a
  2. Kellner, A. W. A. (1999). Short note on a new dinosaur (Theropoda, Coelurosauria) from the Santana Formation (Romualdo Member, Albian), northeastern Brazil. Boletim do Museu Nacional, Nova Série, Geologia 49: 1-8.

    Named Santanaraptor.

    kellner1999b
  3. Hendrickx, C.; Bell, P. R.; Pittman, M.; Milner, A. R. C.; Cuesta, E.; O'Connor, J.; Loewen, M.; Currie, P. J.; Mateus, O.; Kaye, T. G.; Delcourt, R. (2022). Morphology and distribution of scales, dermal ossifications, and other non-feather integumentary structures in non-avialan theropod dinosaurs. Biological Reviews 97(3): 960-1004. doi:10.1111/brv.12829

    Documents preserved epidermis in the Santanaraptor holotype.

    hendrickx2022a
  4. Delcourt, D.; Grillo, O. N.; Hendrickx, C.; Kellermann, M.; Langer, M. C. (2025). The coelurosaur theropods of the Romualdo formation, early Cretaceous (Aptian) of Brazil: Santanaraptor placidus meets Mirischia asymmetrica. The Anatomical Record ar.70085. Wiley. doi:10.1002/ar.70085

    Recovered Santanaraptor as an early megaraptoran within Tyrannosauroidea under equal weights, and as an earliest-branching maniraptoromorph under implied weights, the preferred result.

    delcourt2025a
  5. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Reports the tyrannosauroid placement and its alternatives.

    jones2026c
  6. Holtz, T. R. (2004). Tyrannosauroidea. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 111-136. University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Suggested Santanaraptor may be a tyrannosauroid, without an analysis.

    holtz2004b
  7. Porfiri, J. D.; Novas, F. E.; Calvo, J. O.; Agnolín, F. L.; Ezcurra, M. D.; Cerda, I. A. (2014). Juvenile specimen of Megaraptor (Dinosauria, Theropoda) sheds light about tyrannosauroid radiation. Cretaceous Research 51: 35-55. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2014.04.007

    Recovered Santanaraptor as the first branch of a tyrannosauroid clade holding megaraptorans and the tyrannosaurid lineage.

    porfiri2014a
  8. Delcourt, R.; Grillo, O. N. (2018). Tyrannosauroids from the Southern Hemisphere: implications for biogeography, evolution, and taxonomy. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 511: 379-387. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.09.003

    Recovered Santanaraptor as a tyrannosauroid on three matrices.

    delcourt2018a
  9. Dal Sasso, C.; Maganuco, S. (2011). Scipionyx samniticus (Theropoda: Compsognathidae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Italy — osteology, ontogenetic assessment, phylogeny, soft tissue anatomy, taphonomy and palaeobiology. Memorie della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano 37(1): 1-281.

    Recovered Santanaraptor as a basal maniraptoran, above Ornitholestes.

    dalsasso2011a
  10. Novas, F.; Ezcurra, M.; Agnolin, F.; Pol, D.; Ortiz, R. (2012). New Patagonian Cretaceous theropod sheds light about the early radiation of Coelurosauria. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales 14: 57-81. Museo Argentino de Ciencia Naturales. doi:10.22179/revmacn.14.372

    Found Santanaraptor unstable between a basal tyrannosauroid and a basal maniraptoriform, and pruned it.

    novas2012a
  11. Rauhut, O. W. M.; Milner, A. C.; Moore-Fay, S. (2010). Cranial osteology and phylogenetic position of the theropod dinosaur Proceratosaurus bradleyi (Woodward, 1910) from the Middle Jurassic of England. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158(1): 155-195. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00591.x

    Regard the characters Holtz (2004) gave as showing only a non-maniraptoran basal coelurosaur.

    rauhut2010a