Fukuiraptor kitadaniensis was a carnivorous dinosaur of the Cretaceous
period. Fossils of it have been found in Japan and dated to 110 million years
ago, which was during the middle of the Cretaceous period. The dimensions of
this predator were:
length: 14 feet (4.2 m.)
height: 3 feet (.92 m.)
weight: 450 pounds (200 kg.)
Paleontologists initially thought that this dinosaur was a Raptor. However,
the general view now is that it was related to Allosaurus.
Fukuiraptor lived during the Albian subperiod (112 - 99.6 million years ago)
of the Cretaceous. It had a relatively light build and was smaller than its
cousin Allosaurus. The femur and other features are quite similar to Allosaurus.
But the foot digits are unusually small compared to those of other carnivorours
dinosaurs. Fossils of Fukuiraptor have been found in the Kitadani Formation on
the Sugiyama RIver in Honshu, Japan.
The taxonomy of Fukuiraptor is:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Archosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Family: Allosauridae
Genus: Fukuiraptor
Species: Fukuiraptor kitadaniensis
Neal Robbins
P.S. Futabasaurus was another dinosaur of Japan. It lived during these
subperiods of the Cretaceous:
Coniacian - 89.3 - 85.8 million years ago
Santonian - 85.8 - 83.5 million years ago
This dinosaur was a carnivore and is thought to have been in the same family
as Tyrannosaurus. Not enough fossilized remains have been found to determine how
large it was.
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