Giant Austroraptor discovered in Argentina

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The fossils of a newly discovered, meat-eating raptor dinosaur, one of the biggest and perhaps most recent to live in Argentina's Patagonia region 70 million years ago, have been presented at a Buenos Aires museum.

The fossils of the dinosaur named "Austroraptor cabazai" were found at Bajo de Santa Rosa, in Rio Negro province, which has already yielded several species of herbivore dinosaurs, during paleontological digs funded by the US National Geographic Society.

Measuring five metres in length with a long, flat cranium, short forearms, and jaws full of sharp teeth, Austroraptor was among the largest of the raptors, and belonged to the dromaeosaurids or birdlike dinosaurs that walked on two legs, the most famous of which was the Velociraptor mongoliensis.

The Austroraptor was found in rock formations dating to 70 million years' ago, making it one of the last dinosaurs to walk in Patagonia before they became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period 145 to 65 million years' ago.

A plastic reproduction of the Austroraptor cabazai skeleton will be included in an exhibit of Argentine dinosaurs to open next year in Europe.

The National Geographic expedition that discovered the fossils was led by palaeontologist Fernando Novas, who made the presentation at Argentina's Bernardino Rivadavia Museum of Natural History, in Buenos Aires.

[Ypoknons]

Interesting thing. I'm not dinosaur expert but its big for a raptor and has an elongated skull and short arms.

[Shroom Man 777]

I thought the Megaraptor and other "raptors" in S. America were totally unrelated to the dromeosaurids since the Megaraptor turned out to be some kind of baryonyx, with its massive claws on its hands instead of its foots.

[The Original Nex]

True, Megaraptor is not a member of Maniraptora. However there are Deinonychosaurs present in S. America within the Unenlaginae subfamily. There is no reason to assume this "Austroraptor" is not an actual raptor specimen. However the article is correct to say "one of the biggest," as Utahraptor are at least longer if not bulkier than this new genus. It is an interesting find!