Venetoraptor
| Venetoraptor Temporal range: Late Triassic
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Archosauria |
| Clade: | Avemetatarsalia |
| Clade: | Ornithodira |
| Clade: | †Pterosauromorpha |
| Family: | †Lagerpetidae |
| Genus: | †Venetoraptor Müller et al., 2023 |
| Species: | †V. gassenae
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| Binomial name | |
| †Venetoraptor gassenae Müller et al., 2023
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Venetoraptor (meaning "Vale Vêneto plunderer") is an
archosaurs from the Late Triassic Santa Maria Formation (Paraná Basin) of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The genus contains a single species, V. gassenae, known from a partial skeleton.[1]
Discovery and naming
type locality in Rio Grande do Sul
, BrazilThe Venetoraptor
caudal vertebrae, a partial pelvic girdle, and elements of the arms and legs.[1]
In 2023, Müller et al.
lagerpetid archosaur based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "Venetoraptor", combines a reference to the tourist locality "Vale Vêneto" with the Latin word "raptor", meaning "plunderer". The specific name, "gassenae", honors Valserina M. B. Gassen, a founder of the paleontology center at the Federal University of Santa Maria.[1]
Description
Venetoraptor is estimated at 96.1 centimetres (37.8 in) long, and 33.4 centimetres (13.1 in) tall at the hip. The
Dromomeron romeri, metacarpal III is the longest. The hands of Venetoraptor bear long, scythe-like claws. Like other lagerpetids as well as early pterosaurs, its vertebrae are proportionately short.[1]
Paleobiology
The recurved beak and grasping hands with large claws of Venetoraptor may indicate a
scansorial lifestyle, allowing it to climb and consume food more easily. Birds with raptor-like beaks are more adapted for tearing flesh and the consumption of hard fruit. However, whether the diet of Venetoraptor followed similar trends is unknown. Details of the arms and legs support the loss of obligatory quadrupedalism in Venetoraptor and its relatives, so a bipedal lifestyle is more likely.[1]
Classification
Müller et al. (2023) recovered Venetoraptor as a member of the pterosauromorph clade
phylogenetic analyses are shown in the cladogram below:[1]
Archosauria
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Paleoenvironment
Venetoraptor was discovered in layers of the Hyperodapedon Assemblage Zone within the
temnospondyl Compsocerops,[2] several synapsids, pseudosuchians, avemetatarsalians (including various dinosaurs), and other reptiles.[3]
References
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- ISSN 1932-8486.