Dalianraptor

Dalian thief (Dalian plunderer)

• Dalian · Chinese (place name) · the city of Dalian, Liaoning, China
• raptor · Latin · plunderer, robber, thief

The name combines "Dalian", the Chinese port city in Liaoning Province (home of the Dalian Natural History Museum, which holds the fossil), with the Latin "raptor", meaning plunderer or thief. It is a commonly used suffix for small, predatory, bird-like theropods.

Named by

Gong et al.

Year named

2012

Period

Early Cretaceous

Found in

Jehol Biota, Yixian Formation, Liaoning, China

A small feathered theropod, usually considered an early bird (avialan) or a close relative of birds. Its type species is Dalianraptor cuhe. The single known specimen has been suspected to be a composite (chimera) of more than one animal, so its classification is debated. Some details here, such as the exact author attribution and date, are from memory and worth checking against the original paper.