Paleontologists from the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research discovered the fossils of a new species of megaraptor that measured 33 feet (10 meters) long and weighed five tons. As per MailOnline's report, the unearthed bones were found 1,677 miles from Buenos Aires. The findings suggest that it could be the largest megaraptor dinosaur ever found.
Researchers have named the new species Maip macrothorax, the biggest megaraptor unearthed so far. It has sickle claws that would have served as the weapons that make them one of the most ferocious dinosaurs when it roamed South America 70 million years ago.
New Megaraptor Species Named After An Evil Spirit
Researchers believe that the new megaraptor species, named Maip macrothorax, could be the biggest megarapotor in history. The fossils were found in 2019 in the Santa Cruz Province in Argentina before the pandemic interrupted its excavations, BBC reported.
Its name is also a bit unusual because researchers chose the name "Maip" after the evil spirit from the Aonikenk mythology of the Tehuelches people in Patagonia, where the fossils were found, while the "macrothorax" is a description of the new species' long chest cavity.
Study first author Mauro Aranciaga explains that Maip represents the shadow that death leaves in its wake for Tehuelches people. They think that it perfectly describes the massive predator that lived in the Cretaceous Period and has its remains unearthed recently.
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What Was the Megaraptor Like Back Then?
The Jurassic Park movies not only made Tyrannosaurus rex famous but also the raptors. However, they are much smaller than the megaraptors that measure 20 and 26 feet (6 and 8 meters) long and stand a few feet taller than an adult human.
Although megaraptors are not as large and powerful as their fellow carnivore T. rex, these dinosaurs are still terrifying predators. Megaraptors use their long, slender legs and semi-hollow bones to run fast and catch their prey. They would hold their prey using their unusually beefy arms and rip through their meat using their curved claws.
Megaraptors roamed Earth about 70 million years ago towards the end of the Cretaceous Period in what was then a tropical forest before the Andes mountain range and glaciers appeared that now define Patagonia.
Science Alert reported that this killer reptile had two sharp, curved claws in its front paws that measure 15.7 inches (40 centimeters) long. Aranciaga said that finding the first piece of Maip on his first professional expedition in 2019 has made his childhood dream come true.
The excavation took months of meticulous digging, cleaning, and classification of a large cache of bones that included some bits of hip, rib, tail, and arm.
Fernando Novas from the Laboratory of Comparative Anatomy at the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences said that Maip was one of the last megaraptors to inhabit Earth before the dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago. Arciaga added that it is also the southernmost megaraptor scientists have ever found. Take a look at it in the video from NBC News below:
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