Tachiraptor
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Tachiraptor Temporal range: Early Jurassic |
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| IVIC-P-2687, the holotype right tibia, and IVIC-P-2868, the referred left ischium | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Neotheropoda |
| Genus: |
†Tachiraptor Langer, Rincón, Ramezani, Solórzano, & Rauhut, 2014 |
| Species: | †T. admirabilis |
| Binomial name | |
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Tachiraptor admirabilis Langer, Rincón, Ramezani, Solórzano, & Rauhut, 2014 |
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Tachiraptor ("thief of Táchira") is a genus of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs found in the early Jurassic period La Quinta Formation of Venezuela. It includes one species, Tachiraptor admirabilis, described from a fossilized tibia and ischium. They were small bipedal dinosaurs, with a deduced total body length of just over 1.5 m (4.9 ft). They were likely generalist predators, preying on smaller vertebrates like other dinosaurs or lizards.
Since the late 1980s in the Venezuelan state of Táchira, remains of dinosaurs have been uncovered at a road-cut between La Grita and Seboruco. Most of these belonged to a small herbivore that in 2014 was described as Laquintasaura. However, included in the discoveries were some theropod teeth, indicating a predator must have been present. In 2013, this was affirmed by the discovery of some theropod bones.
In 2014, the type species Tachiraptor admirabilis was named and described by Max Cardoso Langer, Ascanio D. Rincón, Jahandar Ramezani, Andrés Solórzano and Oliver Walter Mischa Rauhut.
The description was based on two fossils, found in a layer of the La Quinta Formation dating from the Early Jurassic Hettangian stage. The region was once part of the equatorial belt of the ancient supercontinent of Pangaea. A maximum age of 200.72 ± 0.32 million years ago has been confidently established, but due to the limits of zircon radiometric dating, a precise minimum estimate is not known; the actual age could be considerably younger. Both fossils are from the same location, but assumed to represent two individuals. One of these was the holotype specimen, IVIC-P-2867. It consists of a nearly complete right tibia or shinbone. The second fossil was referred to Tachiraptor admirabilis on the assumption that only one species of neotheropod of such a size was present in the La Quinta Formation. It is specimen IVIC-P-2868, consisting of the damaged upper half of a left ischium, a bone of the pelvis.
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