Pyroraptor

fire thief

• pyro · Greek · fire
• raptor · Latin · robber, thief, plunderer

Pyroraptor means "fire thief". The name refers to a wildfire that swept through the site near Var, southern France, shortly before the fossils were discovered in 1992 and that exposed the bones. The "thief" part follows the common naming convention for raptorial dromaeosaurid dinosaurs.

Named by

Allain and Taquet

Year named

2000

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Maastrichtian

Found in

Grès à Reptiles Formation, Provence (Var), southern France

A dromaeosaurid theropod; the type species is Pyroraptor olympius. The species name refers to Olympus, the mountain/plateau near the discovery site.