Joaquinraptor

What it was like

Joaquinraptor was a carnivorous theropod belonging to the megaraptorids, a group of predators best known for the long, curved claws on their hands. Like its relatives, it probably used these claws as much as its teeth when attacking prey. It is known from a single partial skeleton, still being studied, so many details of its full size and appearance are not yet settled.

Its world

Joaquinraptor lived in what is now Argentina between about 72 and 66 million years ago, right at the end of the Cretaceous. It shared its habitat with long-necked sauropods such as Aeolosaurus and Argyrosaurus, as well as the horned Notoceratops. As one of the last known megaraptorids, it lived alongside relatives such as Maip and Orkoraptor elsewhere in South America.

How it was found

Ibiricu and colleagues named Joaquinraptor in 2025, based on fossils from the Lago Colhué Huapi Formation. Being so newly described, much about its biology is still being worked out.