Hagryphus ("Ha's griffin"), is an oviraptorosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Period of what is now Utah.
Discovery[]
To date, only a single species of Hagryphus has been named in 2005 by Lindsay Zanno and Scott Sampson, the type species Hagryphus giganteus. The generic name is derived from Egyptian Ha, the name of the god of the western desert and a Latinised Greek γρύψ (gryps) meaning 'griffin' (a mythological bird-like creature). The specific name means "gigantic" in Latin.[1]
The holotype was discovered in 2002 by Michael Getty in the Kaiparowits Formation (Late Campanian) in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument of southern Utah. The find was scientifically reported in 2003.[2] Radiometric dating of rocks from slightly below the rock bed where the fossil was found indicates that the specimen died 75.95 million years ago.[3] Designated UMNH VP 12765, the type specimen resides in the collections of the Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City. It consists of an incomplete but articulated left manus and the distal portion of the left radius. The hand lacks the second claw. In the wrist both the semilunate carpal bone and the radiale are preserved. Also some fragmentary foot elements, found at the hillside near the hand, have been catalogued under the same inventory number.
Size[]
As the specific name indicates, Hagryphus giganteus was a particularly large oviraptorosaur, estimated by the describers to have been approximately three meters (10 ft) long, which makes it one of the largest members of the clade Oviraptorosauria (Barsbold, 1976), apart from the later described Gigantoraptor. H. giganteus was estimated to have been 30-40% larger than the next largest known North American oviraptorosaur, Chirostenotes. The hand of the holotype was about a foot long.[1] However, later estimates have been lower: Gregory S. Paul in 2010 gave a length of eight feet and a weight of fifty kilogrammes.