SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Tyrannosaurus rex may have been known as the big guy around the Hell Creek Formation 66 million years ago, but a newly discovered species of raptor would have roamed the region as one of its most lethal predators.
Dakotaraptor stood 6 feet tall at the hips yet moved like a springy, agile sprinter. But the winged Dromaeosaur’s 9 1/2-inch-long killing claw could make mincemeat out of any herbivore in its path.
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Vertebrate paleontology curator Robert DePalma of Palm Beach Museum of Natural History and researchers including University of Kansas paleontologists announced the new species in a recently published study.
Dakotaraptor helps fill a gap in body size distribution between small Maniraptora creatures and the T. rex in Hell Creek, which spans parts of South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
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