Pyroraptor
Pyroraptor olympius
Pronounced:
Pie
-
row
-
Rap
-
tore
Diet:
Carnivore
(meat-eater)
Name
Means:
"Fire
Raider"
Length:
unknown
(small)
Height:
unknown
Weight:
unknown
Time:
Late
Cretaceous
- 76
million
years
ago
Fossil
remains for
this
Dinosaur
have been
found in
Europe
Pyroraptor is the first positively identified member of the raptor family found in Europe. This was a small, fast hunter that lived near the end of the age of dinosaurs. The specimen is known from only a few bones, but they are enough to give scientists a good idea of what this little dinosaur would have looked like. Some paleontologists believe it would have closely resembled the small, bird-like dinosaurs recently discovered in China.
Pyroraptor
was
found
associated
with
fossils
representing
a number
of other
creatures,
including
Rhabdodon,
a
nodosaur,
a
titanosaur,
a
ceratopsian
and some
Late
Cretaceous
reptiles.
The
origin
of the
dromaeosaurs
has long
been
debated.
A number
of
prominent
scientists
believe
they
originated
in North
America,
possibly
the area
that was
adjacent
to
Europe
in the
very
Early
Cretaceous. |
