''Variraptor'' ( ; "Var thief") is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of dromaeosaurid

theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...

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

from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Discovery

Between 1992 and 1995 amateur paleontologists Patrick Méchin and Annie Méchin-Salessy uncovered the remains of a small theropod in the Grès à Reptiles Formation (

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campani ...

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval ...

) at La Bastide Neuve, near Fox-Amphoux. The first finds were in 1992 assigned to the dubious theropod genus '' Elopteryx''. A second article, in 1997, concluded they represented a new species. In 1998 this was named by Jean Le Loeuff and

Eric Buffetaut The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

as the

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specime ...

''Variraptor mechinorum''. The generic name is derived from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''Varus'', referring to the

Var River The Var (, ; it, Varo; la, Varus) is a river located in the southeast of France. It is long. Its drainage basin is .Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence region of southern France, and ''raptor'' meaning "thief". The specific name honours the Méchin couple. The genus is based on three

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

s: a posterior dorsal

vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristi ...

(MDE-D168), a sacrum (MDE-D169) with five fused vertebrae, and an ilium (CM-645). The specimens are part of the collection of the Musée des Dinosaures d'Espéraza and the private ''Collection Méchin''. Additional referred material includes a right humerus (MDE-D158) with a well-developed deltopectoral crest, suggesting a raptorial function for the forearm. Other attributed bones include a femur and various vertebrae.

Description

The incomplete remains have dromaeosaurid features in the shape of the vertebrae and the humerus, with some resemblances to ''

Deinonychus ''Deinonychus'' ( ; ) is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur with one described species, ''Deinonychus antirrhopus''. This species, which could grow up to long, lived during the early Cretaceous Period, about 115–108 million y ...

''. In 2019, based on volumetric analysis, the size of the specimen was estimated at in length, in hip height and in body mass.

Classification

In 2000 Ronan Allain and

Philippe Taquet Philippe Taquet (b. April 25, 1940 Saint-Quentin, Aisne) is a French paleontologist who specializes in dinosaur systematics of finds primarily in northern Africa. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences since November 30, 2004, president ...

named a second small theropod from the same layers: ''

Pyroraptor ''Pyroraptor'' (meaning "fire thief") is an extinct genus of paravian dinosaur, probably a dromaeosaurid or unenlagiid (considering that unenlagiids are a separate family), from the Late Cretaceous Ibero-Armorican island, of what is now souther ...

''. They also claimed that ''Variraptor'' was a '' nomen dubium'' because the type lacked any single diagnostic trait. Alan Turner and Peter Makovicky supported this conclusion in their 2012 review of dromaeosaurid systematics. In 2009 Buffetaut and Phomphen Chanthasit defended the validity of ''Variraptor'', arguing the type had a unique combination of traits. The lack of overlapping parts would make it impossible to establish whether ''Pyroraptor'' was a junior subjective synonym but the presence of two different types of ulna in the southern French dromaeosaurid material would indicate two separate species. Le Loeuff and Buffetaut described ''Variraptor'' as a maniraptoran theropod, a member of the

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

, and this has been commonly accepted. However, in 2000 Oliver Rauhut was doubtful, assigning it to the more inclusive

Coelurosauria Coelurosauria (; from Greek, meaning "hollow tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs. Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, t ...

. The only time ''Variraptor'' has been included in a phylogenetic analysis was in a study describing the troodontid '' Hesperornithoides,'' where it was recovered as the sister taxon of '' Bambiraptor,'' within an expanded

Microraptoria Microraptoria (Greek, μίκρος, ''mīkros'': "small"; Latin, ''raptor'': "one who seizes") is a clade of basal dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaurs. The first microraptorians appeared 125 million years ago in China. Many are known for long feather ...

. However, the authors of this study stated that a position within the

Unenlagiidae Unenlagiidae is a proposed family of eumaniraptoran paravians that includes the subfamilies Unenlagiinae and possibly Halszkaraptorinae. Fossils of both subfamilies have been found in both Gondwanan and Laurasian deposits. The biology of the g ...

was also possible, only requiring three extra steps in their matrix.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1193954 Dromaeosaurs Maastrichtian life Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Europe Cretaceous France Fossils of France Fossil taxa described in 1998 Taxa named by Éric Buffetaut

Discovery

Description

Classification

See also

References