Vectiraptor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Vectiraptor Temporal range: Barremian, | |
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| Camellate pneumaticity inside the dorsal vertebrae of Vectiraptor greeni | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Dromaeosauridae |
| Clade: | †Eudromaeosauria |
| Genus: | †Vectiraptor Longrich, Martill & Jacobs, 2021 |
| Species: | †V. greeni |
| Binomial name | |
| †Vectiraptor greeni Longrich, Martill and Jacobs, 2021 | |
Vectiraptor (meaning "Isle of Wight thief") is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Barremian aged Wessex Formation of the United Kingdom. The type and only species is Vectiraptor greeni, known from associated dorsal vertebrae and a partial sacrum.[1]
Vectiraptor was initially discovered by amateur paleontologist Mick Green in 2004 in rocks of the Wessex Formation, below the cliffs of Compton Bay on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The finds form the holotype IWCMS. 2021.31.1-3, consisting of two dorsal vertebrae. Later a partial sacrum of three vertebrae, IWCMS. 2021.31.2, would be discovered by the late Nick Chase. The element has been determined to belong to the holotype as all fossil elements were discovered over a short time period, and each find was located within several metres of the others. The holotype represents an adult individual, the age of which was estimated at twenty to thirty years on the basis of growth lines in the bone cortex. The vertebrae were donated to the collection of the Isle of Wight County Museum Service.[1]
The type species Vectiraptor greeni, would be erected by Nicholas Longrich, David Michael Martill and Megan Jacobs in 2021. The generic name, Vectiraptor, combines the Latin words Vectis, meaning "the Isle of Wight," and raptor meaning "thief". The specific name, greeni, is in honour of Mick Green who initially discovered and prepared the type material.[1]
Of large and wide dromaeosaurid teeth previously reported from Wight, such as the specimens IWCMS.2002.1, IWCMS.2002.3, IWCMS.2002.4 and BMNH R 16510,[2] the describing authors considered it likely that they in fact belonged to Vectiraptor, though they were not formally referred.[1]
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