Velociraptor

swift robber

• velox · Latin · swift, fast
• raptor · Latin · robber, plunderer, one who seizes

The name combines the Latin words for "swift" and "robber" or "plunderer". Osborn chose it to suggest a fast, predatory hunter. The type species is Velociraptor mongoliensis, named for Mongolia, where the fossils were found.

Named by

Osborn

Year named

1924

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Campanian

Found in

Djadochta Formation (Tugrikin Shire), Mongolia; Barun Goyot and related Gobi Desert deposits, Mongolia and China (Inner Mongolia)

A small dromaeosaurid theropod, covered in feathers (quill knobs found on a forearm). It was much smaller than the version shown in the film Jurassic Park, roughly turkey-sized. The species V. mongoliensis was named in 1924, and V. osmolskae was named in 2008. The "Velociraptor" of the films resembles Deinonychus.