| Rapator | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Holotype metacarpal | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | †Megaraptora |
| Genus: | †Rapator von Huene, 1932 |
| Type species | |
| †Rapator ornitholestoides von Huene, 1932 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Rapator is agenus oftheropoddinosaur from theGriman Creek Formation ofNew South Wales,Australia, dating to theCenomanian age[1] of theCretaceous period.[2] It contains only thetype species,Rapator ornitholestoides, which was originally named byFriedrich von Huene in 1932.[3]
Theholotype and only known specimen,BMNH R3718, consists of a single left hand bone, discovered around 1905 nearWollaston, onLightning Ridge.[4] The fossil has beenopalised.[4] The meaning of the generic name is problematic. Von Huene gave noetymology.[3] "Rapator" does not exist inClassical Latin and occurs only very rarely inMediaeval Latin with the meaning "violator".[5] One possible explanation is that von Huene, having been influenced byLatinraptare, "to plunder",[6] mistakenly thought such a word actually existed with the meaning of "plunderer".[7] It has also been considered a simple misspelling of, or confusion with,raptor, "seizer" or "thief".[4] Thespecific name means "resemblingOrnitholestes". Remains of a megaraptorid, nicknamed "Lightning Claw," were discovered in opal fields southwest of Lightning Ridge, Australia, may well represent more material ofRapator.[8]
The bone has a length of seven centimetres.[3] This manual element shows a prominent dorsomedial process, a feature shared with the much smallerOrnitholestes which occasioned the specific name.[4] The process withOrnitholestes is much less distinctive though.[4] On its upper end there is only onecotyle, from which von Huene deduced it must have been a metacarpal.[3] However, several coelurosaurian groups lack a second cotyle on the first phalanx also. IfRapator had a build likeAustralovenator, it would have attained a considerable size: a body length of nine metres (30 ft) has been estimated.[4]
The type specimen ofRapator was originally described as ametacarpal I, a bone from the upper part of a theropod's hand.[3] It was later noted that the bone is similar to a finger bone, the firstphalanx of the first finger, of analvarezsaur[9] or of a primitivecoelurosaurian similar toNqwebasaurus.[10] With the discovery ofAustralovenator, which had a similar metacarpal,Rapator was recognized as a probablemegaraptoran. In fact,Australovenator andRapator differ only in some small details of the bone and may be synonyms, though Agnolin and colleagues in 2010 consideredRapator a dubious genus (nomen dubium) due to its fragmentary nature.[11] However, Whiteet al. found differences between the hand bone ofRapator and the equivalent bone ofAustralovenator, supporting the distinction between the two. They also noted that the two genera come from formations separated chronologically by at least 10 million years, making them unlikely to be synonymous.[2]
Rapator has been synonymised withWalgettosuchus, a theropod found in the same formation.[12] As the latter is only known from a caudal vertebra, the identity cannot be proven.
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