Boreonykus
"northern claw"
- Lived
- 84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Dromaeosauridae
- Found in
- Canada
- Named by
- Bell and Currie 2016
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Habitat
The Wapiti Formation records river floodplains, including swampy ground, in what is now Alberta. Plant eaters in this region included Pachyrhinosaurus and Edmontosaurus.
Field notes
About Boreonykus
What it was like
Boreonykus was a raptor, a feathered hunter with a sickle claw on each foot. It is known from a few bones, including a claw and part of the skull.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Alberta, Canada. Its bones come from the Wapiti Formation, where it shared the land with the horned Pachyrhinosaurus and the duck-billed Edmontosaurus.
How it was found
Bell and Currie named Boreonykus in 2016. Its bones were found in a bone bed of Pachyrhinosaurus. It is one of the most northern raptors known from that time.
Field gallery
More views of Boreonykus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 3
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Boreonykus.
The evidence
The science behind Boreonykus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The type specimen is a right skull-roof bone with an elongated, flat front portion and a low, curved ridge toward the back.
- Isolated hand and foot claws and a tail vertebra from a Pachyrhinosaurus bone bed were tentatively referred to Boreonykus.
Borrowed from relatives
- Its missing snout, lower jaw and neck are restored by comparison with Velociraptor.
- Its feather covering is inferred by comparison with feathered raptors such as Velociraptor.
Still unknown
- Its complete skull shape and body proportions.
- Whether the scattered bones belong to this genus or the same individual, and where it fits within the raptor family tree.
- Its feather colors and pattern.
Discovery timeline
- 2007SkinTurner, Makovicky & Norell
- 2016Named itBell & Currie
- 2021Family treeAverianov & Lopatin
- 2022Its worldFanti et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Boreonykus
Skin
Reported feather attachment bumps on a forearm assigned to Velociraptor, showing that raptor arms carried feathers.
Feather quill knobs in the dinosaur Velociraptor. Science 317: 1721
Read the paper : Feather quill knobs in the dinosaur Velociraptor (opens in a new tab)Named it
Named Boreonykus from fragmentary remains in a northern dinosaur community.
A high-latitude dromaeosaurid,Boreonykus certekorum, gen. et sp. nov. (Theropoda), from the upper Campanian Wapiti Formation, west-central Alberta. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36: e1034359
Read the paper : A high-latitude dromaeosaurid,Boreonykus certekorum, gen. et sp. nov. (Theropoda), from the upper Campanian Wapiti Formation, west-central Alberta (opens in a new tab)Family tree
A family-tree analysis grouped Boreonykus with dromaeosaurines rather than velociraptorines in its majority-rule consensus tree.
A New Theropod Dinosaur (Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Tajikistan. Doklady Earth Sciences 499: 570-574
Read the paper : A New Theropod Dinosaur (Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Tajikistan (opens in a new tab)Its world
Studied Wapiti fossil communities and found that local environments helped shape which animals lived in the region.
Filling the Bearpaw gap: Evidence for palaeoenvironment-driven taxon distribution in a diverse, non-marine ecosystem from the late Campanian of west-Central Alberta, Canada. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 592: 110923
Read the paper : Filling the Bearpaw gap: Evidence for palaeoenvironment-driven taxon distribution in a diverse, non-marine ecosystem from the late Campanian of west-Central Alberta, Canada (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Dromaeosauridae
Sources: Wikidata