New giant raptor discovered in South Dakota

A research team led by a University of Kansas alumnus has identified a new giant raptor, the largest specimen ever found with wing feathers.

Life restoration of Dakotaraptor steini running with the sparrow-sized birds
 Cimolopteryx petra, while the mammal Purgatorius can be seen
 in the foreground [Credit: Emily Willoughby]

Named Dakotaraptor, the fossil from the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota is thought to be about 17 feet long, making it among the largest raptors in the world.

"This new predatory dinosaur also fills the body size gap between smaller theropods and large tyrannosaurs that lived at this time,"  KU Paleontologist and co-author David Burnham said.

Top: wing elements of Dakotaraptor steini and the reconstructed left wing. 
Bottom: teeth of Dakotaraptor steini [Credit: Robert A. DePalma et al.]

Robert DePalma, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Palm Beach Museum of Natural History and lead author of the research, led the expedition to South Dakota where the specimen was found. At the time, he was a graduate student studying with former KU paleontology professor and curator Larry Martin, who died in 2014.

"This Cretaceous period raptor would have been lightly built and probably just as agile as the vicious smaller theropods, such as the Velociraptor," De Palma said. He added that the both fossils showed evidence of "quill knobs" where feathers would have been attached to the forearm of the dinosaur.

Skeletal reconstruction of Dakotaraptor based on available material for Utahraptor, 
Dromaeosaurus, Deinonychus, and Achillobator, demonstrating overall 
proportions and the large size of the creature 
[Credit: Robert DePalma]

This also demonstrates that flightlessness evolved several times in this lineage leading to modern birds.

The peer-reviewed research was published Oct. 30 in Paleontological Contributions.

Source: University of Kansas [November 04, 2015]