Rapator

Rapator is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Griman Creek Formation of New South Wales, Australia, dating to the Albian-Cenomanian ages of the Cretaceous period, 105-96 million years ago. It contains only the type species, Rapator ornitholestoides, which was originally named by Friedrich von Huene in 1932. Discovery The holotype and only known specimen, BMNH R3718, consists of a single left hand bone, discovered around 1905 near Wollaston, on Lightning Ridge. The fossil has been opalised. The meaning of the generic name is problematic. Von Huene gave no etymology. "Rapator" does not exist in Classical Latin and occurs only very rarely in Mediaeval Latin with the meaning "violator". One possible explanation is that von Huene, having been influenced by Latin raptare, "to plunder", mistakenly thought such a word actually existed with the meaning of "plunderer". It has also been considered a simple misspelling of, or confusion with, raptor, "seizer" or "thief". The specific name means "resembling Ornitholestes". Remains of a megaraptorid, nicknamed "Lightning Claw," were discovered in opal fields southwest of Lightning Ridge, Australia, may well represent more material of Rapator. Description The bone has a length of seven centimetres. This manual element shows a prominent dorsomedial process, a feature shared with the much smaller Ornitholestes which occasioned the specific name. The process with Ornitholestes is much less distinctive though. On its upper end there is only one cotyle, from which von Huene deduced it must have been a metacarpal. However, several coelurosaurian groups lack a second cotyle on the first phalanx also. If Rapator had a build like Australovenator, it would have attained a considerable size: a body length of nine metres (30 ft) has been estimated.