Pneumatoraptor

Say it: NEW-mah-tore-RAP-tor

Name means: “air thief”1

Ate: MeatOther meat-eatersLate Cretaceous

Pneumatoraptor was a tiny, meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now Hungary about 85 million years ago. It was about three times smaller than Velociraptor and had hollow bones filled with air sacs, just like modern birds. Scientists only know it from a single shoulder bone, but that bone has special holes that helped make it lightweight.1

Lived

86 to 84 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Bakony Mountains, western Hungary1 3

Food

Meat3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Pneumatoraptor's name means 'air thief' because its shoulder bone had hollow spaces that were probably filled with air sacs in life.1

The only known fossil of Pneumatoraptor is a complete left shoulder blade (scapulocoracoid) that is very narrow and almost circular in cross-section.1

This dinosaur was a member of the group Paraves, which includes dromaeosaurids, troodontids, and birds.1

Pneumatoraptor lived during the Santonian age of the Late Cretaceous, about 85 million years ago.1

The species name 'fodori' honors Géza Fodor, who provided funding for the dig where the fossil was found.1

Other fossils from the same site, such as teeth and claws, might also belong to Pneumatoraptor.1

AI-made picture of Pneumatoraptor — An AI-made picture of how Pneumatoraptor might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Pneumatoraptor

?How big was Pneumatoraptor?

About the size of a turkey. It was smaller than Velociraptor.1 2

?Did Pneumatoraptor have feathers?

Probably yes. Although no direct feather fossils have been found for Pneumatoraptor, its relatives like dromaeosaurids and troodontids are known to have been feathered, so scientists think it was covered in feathers too.2

?What did Pneumatoraptor eat?

Meat. It was a small predatory dinosaur with flattened, serrated teeth for cutting meat, skin, and thin bones.2

?When did Pneumatoraptor live?

About 85 million years ago, during the Santonian age of the Late Cretaceous period.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Pneumatoraptor
Named by: Osi et al. 20103
Group: Other meat-eaters
Family / clade: Paraves3
Classification: Theropoda3
Age of the rocks: 86 to 84 million years (Santonian)3
Rock formations: Csehbánya3
Countries: Hungary3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Pneumatoraptor was named in 2010 by Attila Ősi, Sebastián Apesteguía, and Michał Kowalewski based on a single shoulder bone found in the Csehbánya Formation of Hungary.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Pneumatoraptor was a dromaeosaurid, a troodontid, or something else, because the only known bone is not enough to tell.1

Where the facts come from

Pneumatoraptor (en.wikipedia.org)
Pneumatoraptor fodori – Magyar Dinoszaurusz-kutató Expedíció (magyardinoszaurusz.hu)
Pneumatoraptor in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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