| Aoniraptor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Speculativelife restoration | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | †Megaraptora |
| Genus: | †Aoniraptor Motta et al., 2016 |
| Species: | †A. libertatem |
| Binomial name | |
| †Aoniraptor libertatem Motta et al., 2016 | |
Aoniraptor is an extinct genus ofmegaraptorantheropod dinosaurs from theLate CretaceousHuincul Formation of Argentina. The genus contains asingle species,Aoniraptor libertatem, known from a partial skeleton.
The holotype, MPCA-Pv 804/1 to 804/25, which consists of the last sacral vertebra, six proximal caudal vertebrae, four mid-caudal vertebrae, and five haemal arches, was recovered by Matias Motta from the Violante Farm, part of theHuincul Formation. It was discovered in 2010, but only formally described in 2016.[1]
Aoniraptor comes from the Tehuelche language word "Aoni", which means south, and the Latin word "raptor", meaning thief. The specific name,libertatem, comes from the Latin word for freedom, as it was discovered on the bicentennial of Argentina's independence from Spain in 1810.[1]
Aoniraptor grew up to 6 metres (20 ft) long.[1]
On some blogs,Aoniraptor has been informally considered as synonymous with the theropodGualicho, described from the same formation, due to the similarities of their caudal vertebrae. If this were supported, the nameGualicho would have precedent.[2][3] Aranciaga Rolando et al. in 2020 performed a comparative analysis between the pneumatic structures ofAoniraptor andGualicho, and found many differences between the two.[4]
Phylogenetic analyses includingAoniraptor recover it as amegaraptoran.[1][4] The results of thephylogenetic analysis of Rolando et al. (2022) are displayed in thecladogram below:[5]
| Megaraptora |
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