''Pneumatoraptor'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of small

paravian Paraves are a widespread group of theropod dinosaurs that originated in the Middle Jurassic period. In addition to the extinct dromaeosaurids, troodontids, anchiornithids, and possibly the scansoriopterygids, the group also contains the av ...

, possibly a

dromaeosaurid Dromaeosauridae () is a family (biology), family of feathered coelurosaurian Theropoda, theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous period (geology), Period. The name Drom ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

that lived in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. It is known from a single complete left shoulder girdle (

scapulocoracoid The scapulocoracoid is the unit of the pectoral girdle that contains the coracoid and scapula. The coracoid itself is a beak-shaped bone that is commonly found in most vertebrates with a few exceptions. The scapula is commonly known as the ''shoulde ...

) found in the

Csehbánya Formation The Csehbánya Formation is a Formation (geology), geological formation in the Transdanubian Mountains of Veszprém County, Hungary. The formation dates to the Late Santonian (around 85-84 million years ago) of the Late Cretaceous. It represents ...

of the Iharkút locality in the Bakony Mountains of western Hungary. This formation dates to the late

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

period (

Santonian The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya ( million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 m ...

age) about 85 million years ago.Ősi, A., Apesteguía, S.M and Kowalewski, M. (2010). "Non-avian theropod dinosaurs from the early Late Cretaceous of Central Europe." ''Cretaceous Research'' 31: 304-320, The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is ''Pneumatoraptor fodori'', named for Géza Fodor, who provided funding for the dig. The genus name ''Pneumatoraptor'', which means "air thief", Atkinson, L. "PNEUMATORAPTOR :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive". ‹http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/PNEUMATORAPTOR›. Web access: 13th Nov 2020. refers to the pneumaticity of the bone, the hollow spaces that would have been filled with air sacs in life. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

specimen is identified by the catalog number MTM V.2008.38.1. and housed at the

Hungarian Natural History Museum The Hungarian Natural History Museum () in Budapest, dating back to 1802, houses the largest natural history collections of Hungary and the region. History of the museum Foundation In 1802, Count Ferenc Széchényi offered his library and h ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Description

''Pneumatoraptor'' differs from other

theropod Theropoda (; from ancient Greek , (''therion'') "wild beast"; , (''pous, podos'') "foot"">wiktionary:ποδός"> (''pous, podos'') "foot" is one of the three major groups (clades) of dinosaurs, alongside Ornithischia and Sauropodom ...

s in having a narrow shoulder blade that is nearly circular in cross section, as well as having a large opening in the bone to house a hollow air sac cavity. The bone is small, indicating that the animal was about three times smaller than ''

Velociraptor ''Velociraptor'' (; ) is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in th ...

''. The shoulder girdle is L-shaped, showing it to be a member of the group

Paraves Paraves are a widespread group of theropod dinosaurs that originated in the Middle Jurassic period. In addition to the extinct dromaeosauridae, dromaeosaurids, troodontidae, troodontids, Anchiornithidae, anchiornithids, and possibly the scansor ...

, which also includes the

dromaeosaurids Dromaeosauridae () is a family of feathered coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. The name Dromaeosauridae means 'running lizards', from Gree ...

troodontids Troodontidae is a clade of bird-like theropod dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. During most of the 20th century, troodontid fossils were few and incomplete and they have therefore been allied, at various times, with many dinos ...

, and

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

. While the ''Pneumatoraptor'' remains are too incomplete to tell which, if any, of these specific groups it belongs to, many of the features of the bones are similar to dromaeosaurids. Other paravian remains from the same formation may belong to ''Pneumatoraptor''. These include isolated teeth, claws, tail vertebrae, and a partial lower leg bone (tibia).

References

Paraves Dinosaur genera Santonian dinosaurs Fossil taxa described in 2010 Dinosaurs of Europe {{Theropod-stub