Santanaraptor


Santanaraptor is a genus of tyrannosauroid dinosaur that lived in South America during the Early Cretaceous, about 112 million years ago.

Classification

The holotype is a juvenile partial skeleton consisting of three caudal vertebrae with chevrons, ischia, femora, tibia, fibula, pes, and soft tissue. The fossilized tissue includes a thin epidermis, muscle fibers, and possibly blood vessels. It was unearthed in 1996 from the Romualdo Formation in the Ceará State, northeastern Brazil. While primarily known from hindquarter elements, the individual represented by the fossil may have reached in length. The fossil consists of bones from the pelvis, hindlimbs, and tail. These provide little information on its overall appearance. However, it was definitely a coelurosaur, and a few of its details suggest that it might be a member of the tyrannosauroids. It is presumed to be similar to Dilong and Guanlong in that it had long arms, three fingered hands, and slim hindlimbs.
The type species is S. placidus, first described by Kellner in 1999. The species epithet refers to, who founded the.
Santanaraptor was originally thought to be a maniraptoran theropod when it was first discovered. However, it is now thought to be a basal coelurosaur based on several features present on the femur. Santanaraptor was tabulated by Holtz as the first tyrannosauroid known from Gondwana, a position also found by Delcourt and Grillo.