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ZoomDinosaurs.com Dinosaur News |
December 17, 1998 |
A new meat-eating dinosaur, Variraptor mechinorum, has been found in the south of France (near Marseilles). This late Cretaceous period dinosaur was about 5-6 feet (1.5-1.8 m) long and weighed roughly 100 pounds (50 kg), approximately the size of a person. Variraptor was bipedal (walked on two legs), had a long tail, short powerful arms, and sharp teeth and claws. Scientists speculate that Variraptor may have been a scavenger.
Variraptor was discovered in 1998 by two amateur paleontologists, Patrick and Annie Mechin, near Fox-Amphoux, in the Var (hence the name of this raptor). Details of this find were published in the European Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology.
Variraptor lived during the late Cretaceous period, about 70 million years ago, toward the end of the Mesozoic Era.
Fossil remains include some dorsal vertebrae, skull fragments, a humerus (arm bone), a femur (thigh bone), a sickle-like toe claw and some teeth.
Related Links
Pages on close relatives, Deinonychus, Utahraptor, and Velociraptor.
All about the raptors, the dromaeosaurids.
The meat-eating dinosaurs, the theropods, and dinosaur diets.
Creatures and climate of the Cretaceous period.
Other fossils found in France and Europe.
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