New theropod from Venezuela

South and Central America have been a gold mine of dinosaur discoveries lately! We have perhaps the largest animals to ever walk our earth, Argentinosaurus and Dreadnoughtus discovered in the Brazil region, We have the basal Ornithiscian Laquintasaurua Venazuelae, and now we have a new addition.

Meet Tachiraptor admirabilis, a primative flesh eater from the same time and place as Laquintasaurua.

The name comes from the region it was uncovered in, Táchira in western Venezuala, and of course, raptor(roughly translates to thief from Táchira) though it isn't a dromeaosaur.Admirabilis comes from a local group from that area.

Like the little ornithiscian, Tachiraptor is believed to have set the stage for its gigantic theropod cousins. Though it isn't the direct ancestor of Allosaurus or Tyrannosaurus, but instead belongs to the group Averostra, primarily known from the Mid Jurassic. Based on the femur length, Tachiraptor was ~ 1.5 meters long. no more then thirty pounds in weight. Despite its dimunitive size, Tachiraptor is one of the largest discoveries of the year.

Based on a few bones, we can establish that Tachiraptor was probably a predatory animal.

The recently discovered Laquintasaura was most likely on the menu,along with various other small vertebrates and insects. Following the Permian extinction event, there wasn't a whole lot of large bodied animals. The dinosaurs inherited the earth from their Synaspid ancestors, and it all started with Tachiraptor and Laquintasaura - at least in the South America region. The reason we're having more discoveries come from this region is simple; up until now,there hasn't been a whole lot of interest expressed by local paleontologists, but a recent surge in excavations is showing us this continent is a gold mine.