Neuquenraptor argentinus

[Brad McFeeters <archosauromorph2@hotmail.com>]

Novas, F.E. & D. Pol, 2005.  New evidence on deinonychosaurian dinosaurs 
from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia.  Nature 433: 858 - 861.

ABSTRACT:   Most of what is known about the evolution of deinonychosaurs 
(that is, the group of theropods most closely related to birds) is based on 
discoveries from North America and Asia. Except for *Unenlagia comahuensis* 
and some fragmentary remains from northern Africa, no other evidence was 
available on deinonychosaurian diversity in Gondwana. Here we report a new, 
Late Cretaceous member of the clade, *Neuquenraptor argentinus* gen. et sp. 
nov., representing uncontroversial evidence of a deinonychosaurian theropod 
in the Southern Hemisphere. The new discovery demonstrates that Cretaceous 
theropod faunas from the southern continents shared greater similarity with 
those of the northern landmasses than previously thought. Available evidence 
suggests that deinonychosaurians were probably distributed worldwide at 
least by the beginning of the Cretaceous period. The phylogenetic position 
of the new deinonychosaur, as well as other Patagonian coelurosaurian 
theropods, is compatible with a vicariance model of diversification for some 
groups of Gondwanan and Laurasian dinosaurs.