Maip

What it was like

Maip was a large, long-legged predator built for speed. Like other megaraptorids, it probably had a slender skull, long arms, and huge, curved claws on its hands. It grew to roughly 9 meters (30 feet) long, making it one of the largest megaraptorids known.

Its ribs were unusually large and robust for a theropod of its size, suggesting powerful chest muscles. This feature is reflected in its species name, Maip macrothorax, which refers to its wide chest.

Its world

Maip lived from about 72 to 66 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Argentina. Its bones come from the Chorrillo Formation.

It shared its habitat with the plant-eating Nullotitan, and with the smaller theropods Kank and Isasicursor.

How it was found

Aranciaga Rolando and colleagues named Maip in 2022, based on an incomplete skeleton. Only one fossil find is known so far. Maip may be the largest megaraptorid discovered anywhere, and it is considered a close relative of other megaraptorids from South America, such as Megaraptor, Murusraptor, and Orkoraptor.