Santanaraptor
"Santana thief"
Type species Santanaraptor placidus
- Lived
- 120 to 113 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods
- Found in
- Brazil
- Named by
- Kellner 1999
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
115 million years ago
Habitat
It lived near a coastal lagoon in what is now Brazil. Irritator, Mirischia and Aratasaurus also come from the Romualdo Formation.
Field notes
About Santanaraptor
What it was like
Santanaraptor was a small coelurosaur, a two-legged meat eater. It is known from its hips and hind legs, some of which preserve traces of soft tissue such as muscle and skin.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now Brazil. It comes from the Romualdo Formation, where it shared the land with the spinosaur Irritator.
How it was found
Kellner named Santanaraptor in 1999. The type species is Santanaraptor placidus. Some scientists think it may be an early tyrannosaur relative.
Field gallery
More views of Santanaraptor
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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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 Santanaraptor.
The evidence
The science behind Santanaraptor
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The partial skeleton preserves hip bones, hind legs, parts of the feet and tail vertebrae.
- Skin on the lower legs and feet preserves scales and textured pads beneath the toes.
- The claw on the inner main toe curves more strongly than the claws on the other main toes.
Borrowed from relatives
- Dilong helps model the missing long, low snout, neck and arms.
- Feathery filaments are a possible covering based on comparisons with Dilong.
Still unknown
- Its exact place within the coelurosaur family tree.
- The shape of its skull and hands.
- Its color and whether feathers covered the body above its scaled legs.
Often drawn wrong
- A raised, oversized sickle claw copies dromaeosaurs rather than its preserved foot.
- Tiny tyrannosaur-style arms replace the longer arms suggested by early coelurosaurs.
Discovery timeline
- 1999Named itKellner
- 2004Close relativeXu et al.
- 2025Full descriptionDelcourt et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Santanaraptor
Named it
Named a small theropod from a partial skeleton with preserved soft tissues in Brazil.
Short note on a new dinosaur (Theropoda, Coelurosauria) from the Santana Formation (Romualdo Member, Albian), northeastern Brazil. Boletim do Museu Nacional, Nova Série 49: 1-8
No link available
Close relative
Described Dilong with long arms and feathery filaments, offering a comparison for missing body regions and a possible covering in Santanaraptor.
Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids. Nature 431: 680-684
Read the paper : Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids (opens in a new tab)Full description
Restudied Santanaraptor and Mirischia, supported their separation as distinct animals and described scales on the legs and feet of Santanaraptor.
The coelurosaur theropods of the Romualdo formation, early Cretaceous (Aptian) of Brazil: Santanaraptor placidus meets Mirischia asymmetrica. The Anatomical Record 309: 2752-2789
Read the paper : The coelurosaur theropods of the Romualdo formation, early Cretaceous (Aptian) of Brazil: Santanaraptor placidus meets Mirischia asymmetrica (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Coelurosauria
Sources: Wikidata