Diuqin
"bird of prey"
Type species Diuqin lechiguanae
- Lived
- 86 to 84 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Dromaeosauridae
- Found in
- Argentina
- Named by
- Porfiri et al. 2024
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Habitat
It lived in a landscape crossed by rivers, with sandy areas shaped by wind. Bonitasaura, Alvarezsaurus and Viavenator also come from the Bajo de la Carpa Formation.
Field notes
About Diuqin
What it was like
Diuqin was a feathered hunter from the southern branch of the raptor family, known only from an upper arm bone and a few backbones.
Its world
It lived about 86 to 84 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Argentina. Its bones come from the Bajo de la Carpa Formation, where it shared the land with the titanosaur Bonitasaura, the small hunters Alvarezsaurus and Velocisaurus and the abelisaur Viavenator.
How it was found
Porfiri and colleagues named Diuqin in 2024, from a single find. Its arm bone carries tooth marks, which suggests its body was fed on after death.
Field gallery
More views of Diuqin
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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 Diuqin.
The evidence
The science behind Diuqin
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- A nearly complete upper arm bone and parts of vertebrae from the hips and tail.
- The upper arm is sturdier than in Buitreraptor and resembles that of Unenlagia.
- Tooth marks on the upper arm record another animal biting the bone.
Borrowed from relatives
- Unenlagia helps restore the missing body, while Buitreraptor provides comparisons for the head, hands and feet.
- Feathered relatives such as Zhenyuanlong support a feather covering, including long feathers on the arms.
Still unknown
- The exact shape and proportions of its head and limbs.
- Its feather arrangement and color.
- Which animal left the tooth marks on its arm bone.
Often drawn wrong
- A completely scaly body leaves out the feather covering inferred from its relatives.
- Giving it the extremely slender upper arm of Buitreraptor conflicts with its sturdier arm bone.
Discovery timeline
- 2015Close relativeLü & Brusatte
- 2018Close relativeGianechini et al.
- 2024Named itPorfiri et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Diuqin
Close relative
Found body feathers and large feathered wings in Zhenyuanlong, supporting feathered restorations of other raptor relatives.
A large, short-armed, winged dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China and its implications for feather evolution. Scientific Reports 5
Read the paper : A large, short-armed, winged dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China and its implications for feather evolution (opens in a new tab)Close relative
Described Buitreraptor limb bones, including grasping hands and a raised, curved foot claw, providing comparisons for missing parts of Diuqin.
Postcranial skeletal anatomy of the holotype and referred specimens ofBuitreraptor gonzalezorumMakovicky, Apesteguía and Agnolín 2005 (Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae), from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. PeerJ 6: e4558
Read the paper : Postcranial skeletal anatomy of the holotype and referred specimens ofBuitreraptor gonzalezorumMakovicky, Apesteguía and Agnolín 2005 (Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae), from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia (opens in a new tab)Named it
Described a new raptor relative from arm and backbone remains, including an upper arm with tooth marks.
Diuqin lechiguanae gen. et sp. nov., a new unenlagiine (Theropoda: Paraves) from the Bajo de la Carpa Formation (Neuquén Group, Upper Cretaceous) of Neuquén Province, Patagonia, Argentina. BMC Ecology and Evolution 24
Read the paper : Diuqin lechiguanae gen. et sp. nov., a new unenlagiine (Theropoda: Paraves) from the Bajo de la Carpa Formation (Neuquén Group, Upper Cretaceous) of Neuquén Province, Patagonia, Argentina (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Dromaeosauridae
Sources: Wikidata