Open Paleo

Variraptor

Le Loeuff & Buffetaut, 1998 VARR-i-rap-tor /ˈværɪræptər/ Nomen dubium

From Latin Varus (referring to the Var River in the Alpes-Maritimes of southern France where it was found) and Latin raptor ('thief' or 'plunderer'), meaning 'Var thief'

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

Variraptor is a dubious and possibly chimeric genus of paravian theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of France.

Under dispute

Le Loeuff and Buffetaut (1998) erected Variraptor mechinorum as a dromaeosaurid on a sacrum and last dorsal vertebra, referring a humerus, a femur and vertebrae partly from another locality. Hartman and colleagues (2019) recover it beside Bambiraptor among early microraptorians, and Cau and Madzia (2021) among unenlagiines. Allain and Pereda-Suberbiola (2003) find its dromaeosaurid identity far from certain, Senter and colleagues (2004) could not confirm it as a deinonychosaur, and Turner and colleagues (2012) find no characters diagnostic of Dromaeosauridae. Moutrille and colleagues (2025) compare a referred cervicodorsal with the eudromaeosaur Shri and the type-locality ilium with early dromaeosaurids and avialans. Placed at Paraves incertae sedis, the node common to these readings.

Species

Variraptor mechinorum Le Loeuff & Buffetaut, 1998 Nomen dubium

Type species

Named for Patrick Méchain and Annie Méchain-Salessy, the couple who discovered and recovered the fossil remains.

Holotype
MDE-D168, MDE-D169 , Le Musée des Dinosaures Espéraza-Aude (Dinosaur Museum Espéraza), Espéraza, Department Aude, Region Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées
Material
An articulated posterior dorsal vertebra and sacrum
Horizon
Grès à Reptiles Formation, Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Fox-Amphoux-La Bastide Neuve, Var, France

References

  1. Le Loeuff, J.; Buffetaut, E. (1998). A new dromaeosaurid theropod from the Upper Cretaceous of southern France. Oryctos 1: 105-112. leloeuff1998a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length estimate.

    jones2026c
  3. 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

    Argued the Variraptor holotype lacks distinguishing features.

    allain2000a
  4. 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

    Agrees with Allain and Taquet (2000) that the holotype is nondiagnostic and treats Variraptor mechinorum as a nomen dubium.

    turner2012a
  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

    Finds the dromaeosaurid identity of the holotype far from certain and the referred material's association very doubtful.

    allain2003a
  6. Senter, P.; Barsbold, R.; Britt, B. B.; Burnham, D. A. (2004). Systematics and evolution of Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria, Theropoda). Bulletin of the Gunma Museum of Natural History 8: 1-20.

    Could neither confirm nor rule out deinonychosaurian status.

    senter2004a
  7. Hartman, S.; Mortimer, M.; Wahl, W. R.; Lomax, D. R.; Lippincott, J.; Lovelace, D. M. (2019). A new paravian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America supports a late acquisition of avian flight. PeerJ 7: e7247. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.7247

    Recovers Variraptor as sister to Bambiraptor among early microraptorians; it joins Unenlagiinae in three more steps.

    hartman2019a
  8. 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

    Includes Variraptor as a pruned terminal ("k" in Fig. 6) whose alternative positions all fall within Unenlagiinae.

    cau2021a
  9. Moutrille, L.; Cau, A.; Chinzorig, T.; Escuillié, F.; Tsogtbaatar, K.; Ganzorig, B.; Mallet, C.; Godefroit, P. (2025). A new bird-like dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia with extremely robust hands supports niche partitioning among velociraptorines. Historical Biology 38(6): 1987-2018. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2025.2530148

    Finds the sacral features of Variraptor non-autapomorphic and the referred material possibly from two or more taxa.

    moutrille2025a