In Depth
The holotype remains of Murusraptor were first recovered across 2001 and 2002, but were not described in a scientific paper until 2016. Murusraptor is identified as a megaraptoran theropod dinosaur, and one of potentially large size. The holotype individual of Murusraptor has been estimated to have been just short of six and a half meters in length at the time of its death. However, sutures in the known portions of the skull indicate that this individual was still immature and hence not fully grown. This would mean that fully grown adults would have been substantially larger, though how much so is still unknown.
So far only the rear half of the skull of Murusraptor has been recovered. A key feature of this skull however is that even at the rear it was very narrow. This is a strong indicator that the snout of Murusraptor would have also been narrow, a feature that it would have shared with some other megaraptoran theropod dinosaurs, including the Megaraptor genus.
Further Reading
- A new megaraptoran dinosaur (Dinosauria, Theropoda, Megaraptoridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. - PLoS ONE 11(7):e0157973:1-53. - Rodolfo Anibal Coria & Philip John Currie - 2016.
