Outline: a typical theropod
Vectiraptor
"Isle of Wight thief"
Type species Vectiraptor greeni
- Lived
- 126 to 121 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Dromaeosauridae
- Found in
- United Kingdom
- Named by
- Longrich et al. 2022
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
125 million years ago
Field notes
About Vectiraptor
What it was like
Vectiraptor was a raptor, a feathered hunter with a sickle claw on each foot. It is known only from a few backbones and part of the hips.
It was probably a fairly large raptor, bigger than Velociraptor.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now southern England. Its bones come from the Wessex Formation, where it shared the land with Iguanodon, the small Hypsilophodon, the armored Polacanthus and the hunters Baryonyx and Neovenator.
How it was found
Longrich and colleagues named Vectiraptor in 2022, from a single find.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Dromaeosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: N. R. Longrich, D. M. Martill, and M. L. Jacobs. 2022. A new dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Wessex Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Barremian) of the Isle of Wight, and implications for European palaeobiogeography. Cretaceous Research 134:105123