#linheraptor

On the first day of Christmas, Santa gave to me,

Linheraptor exquisitus

A species of dromaeosaurid from the Wulansuhai Formation of Inner Mongolia, Linheraptor is one of a few closely related species of dromaeosaur that all lived at roughly the same place at the same time.These other species include Tsaagan mangas and two species of Velociraptor, and are the source of some debate over whether they all represent truly different species or whether they should all be lumped together under Velociraptor.

Linheraptor itself is an animal I’m surprised we don’t see more in palaeoart, since it is actually known from exquisitely preserved remains (hence the species name). We have almost a complete skeleton that looks like this

and yet it remains a pretty obscure dromaeosaur?? What’s up with that, somebody get on this.