Gigantoraptor

Gigantoraptor is a genus of giant oviraptorosaurian theropod dinosaur. It was discovered in 2005 in the Iren Dabasu Formation, Erlian basin, in Inner Mongolia. The age of the Iren Dabasu formation is controversial. Based on ostracods, Godefroit suggested the unit was Nemegt equivalent or about 70 million years old, although some dinosaur remains suggest an older Baynshirenian age c 85-90 Ma.



Discovery and naming
Since 2001, in a quarry at Saihangaobi, in Sonid Zuoqi, numerous remains of the sauropod Sonidosaurus have been uncovered. In April 2005 Chinese paleontologist Xu Xing was asked to reenact the discovery of Sonidosaurus for a Japanese documentary. Xu obliged them by digging out a thighbone. As he wiped the bone clean, he suddenly realized it was not from a sauropod, but from an unidentified theropod in the size class of Albertosaurus. He then stopped the filming to secure the serendipitous find. This way, the discovery of the Gigantoraptor holotype fossil was documented on film.

In 2007 the type species Gigantoraptor erlianensis was named and described by Xu, Tan Qingwei, Wang Jianmin, Zhao Xijin and Tan Lin. The generic name is derived from Latin gigas, gigantis, "giant" and raptor, "seizer". The specific name refers to the Erlian Basin.

The only known type specimen, LH V0011, was found in layers dating to the Campanian-Maastrichtian, about seventy million years old. It consists of is the incomplete and disassociated remains of a single subadult individual, a partial skeleton lacking the cranium but including the lower jaw, a single neck vertebra, most of the back and tail and the majority of the frontlimb and hindlimb elements.

Description
It was clear to Xu et al. that Gigantoraptor belonged to the Oviraptorosauria, a group named after Oviraptor, but compared to other known members, Gigantoraptor was much larger, approximately three times as long and 35 times more massive than the heaviest earlier discovered oviraptorosaurid Citipati.[2] Xu et al. estimated the length at 8 metres (26 ft) and the weight at 1400 kilogrammes. In 2010 Gregory S. Paul even gave an estimate of two tonnes (2.2 tons).

The toothless lower jaws of Gigantoraptor are fused into a broad shovel-like mandibula. They indicate that the unknown skull was over half a metre long and toothless also, probably equipped with a horny beak. The front tail vertebrae have very long neural spines and are heavily pneumaticised with deep pleurocoels. The middle section of the relatively short tail is somewhat stiffened by long prezygapophyses. The back tail vertebrae are lightened by spongeous bone. The front limb is rather long because of an elongated slender hand. The humerus is bowed outwards to an exceptionally large extent and has a very rounded head. The first metacarpal is very short and carries a strongly diverging thumb. The hindlimb is also long because of an elongated lower leg. The thighbone is relatively slender and short with a distinct head and neck. The foot is robust with large and strongly curved toe claws.

No direct evidence of feathers was preserved with the skeleton, but Xu et al. (2007) discussed their likely presence on Gigantoraptor. They admitted that despite Gigantoraptor being a member of the Oviraptorosauria, a group that includes the feathered species Caudipteryx and Protarchaeopteryx, it might have been "naked" because it is three hundred times more massive than these species, and very large animals may rely more on mass for temperature regulation, losing the insulating coverings found on their smaller relatives. However, they suggested that at least arm feathers were probably still present on Gigantoraptor, since their primary functions, such as display and covering the eggs while brooding, are not related to the regulation of body heat.