an unenlagiine dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina.
Pronunciation: AWS-tro-RAP-tor
Meaning: Southern plunderer
Author/s: Novas
et al. (
2009)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Río Negro, Argentina
Acta Ordinal: #683
Austroraptor cabazai
(Cabaza's southern plunderer)Etymology
Austroraptor is derived from from the Latin "austral" (southern), in reference to southern South America, and "raptor" (plunderer, snatcher, robber or thief).
The
species epithet,
cabazai,
honors the late Héctor Cabaza, founder of the Museo Municipal
de Lamarque.
Discovery
The remains of
Austroraptor were discovered in the Allen Formation at Bajo de Santa Rosa, approximately 90 km southwest of Lamarque town, Río Negro Province, Argentina.
The
holotype (MML-195) includes a partial skull and upper jaw with teeth, 5 neck vertebrae, 2 back vertebrae, ribs, a right upper arm,
a finger bone from digit III, the left pubic shaft, left thigh, and
right shin, ankle bones, metatarsal III and toe bones.
A second specmen (MML220) from the same locality was referred to
Austroraptor in 2012, and includes bones that are not present in the holotype. It was found by A. Rasmuson of Calgary, Canada,
during a joint expedition involving staff and students from Museo Paleontológico de Lamarque (Lamarque, Rio Negro), Museo de Geologia y Paleontologia (Universidad Nacional del Comahue), Museo Carmen Funes
(Plaza Huincul, Neuquén), and the University of Alberta (Canada).
Other theropod dinosaurs that have bee collected from the Allen Formation include the abelisaurid
Quilmesaurus curriei (Juárez Valieri
et al., 2007), an as yet unnamed alvarezsaurid (Agnolin
et al., 2006), and indeterminate tetanurans (Coria and Salgado, 2005).
Preparators
Marcelo Pablo Isasi and Santiago Reuil (holotype).
Philip J Currie, Ariana Paulina Carabajal, Miriam Reichel, Robin Sissons and Alberto Garrido (referred specimen).
• Weishampel DB, Barrett PM, Coria RA, Le Loeuff J, Xu X, Zhao X, Sahni A, Gomani EMP and Noto CR (2004) "Dinosaur Distribution". Page 604 in Weishampel, Dodson and Osmólska (eds.) "
The Dinosauria: Second Edition".
• Novas FE, Pol D, Canale JI, Porfiri JD and Calvo JO (2009) "A bizarre Cretaceous theropod dinosaur from Patagonia and the evolution of Gondwanan dromaeosaurids".
Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 276(1659): 1101-1107. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.1554.
• Gianechini FA and Apesteguia S (2010) "
Unenlagiinae revisited: dromaeosaurid theropods from South America".
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 83(1): 163-95. DOI: 10.1590/S0001-37652011000100009.
• Paul GS (2010) "
The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs".
• Turner AH, Makovicky PJ and Norell MA (2012) "A Review of Dromaeosaurid Systematics and Paravian Phylogeny".
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 371(371): 1-206. DOI: 10.1206/748.1.
• Currie P and Carabajal AP (2012) "A New Specimen of
Austroraptor cabazai Novas, Pol, Canale, Porfiri and Calvo, 2008 (Dinosauria, Theropoda, Unenlagiidae) from the Latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Río Negro, Argentina".
Ameghiniana, 49(4): 662-667. DOI: 10.5710/AMGH.30.8.2012.574.
• Motta MJ and Novas FE (2025) "Osteology of
Austroraptor cabazai (Paraves: Theropoda): a southern gigantic unenlagiid from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia".
Historial Biology, 38(6): 2019-2141.
DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2025.2537843.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
AUSTRORAPTOR :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/AUSTRORAPTOR›. Web access: 23rd Aug 2026.
