''Neuquenraptor'' (meaning Neuquén thief) is a genus of

dromaeosaurid Dromaeosauridae () is a family of feathered theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. The name Dromaeosauridae means 'running lizards', from Greek ('), meaning ...

theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...

dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

that lived in South America during the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

in what is now the

Portezuelo Formation The Portezuelo Formation is a geologic formation of Late Cretaceous ( Late Turonian to Early Coniacian) age, outcropping in the Mendoza, Río Negro and Neuquén provinces of Argentina.Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It is one of the first dromaeosaurids found in the Southern Hemisphere.

Discovery and naming

In January 1996 the remains of ''Neuquenraptor'' were found near

Plaza Huincul Plaza Huincul is a small city in Neuquen province, with a population of around 13,000 people, located in southwestern Argentina. It is approximately south-west from the capital, Buenos Aires. Plaza Huincul is located in the middle of the desert ...

in the Sierra del Portezuelo and reported that very year. In 1997 it was revealed the intended name was "Araucanoraptor argentinus". In 1999 it was provisionally described as a member of the

Troodontidae Troodontidae is a clade of bird-like theropod dinosaurs. During most of the 20th century, troodontid fossils were few and incomplete and they have therefore been allied, at various times, with many dinosaurian lineages. More recent fossil disco ...

. However, it was named as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

''Neuquenraptor argentinus'' in 2005 by

Fernando Novas Fernando Emilio Novas (born 1960) is an Argentine paleontologist working for the Comparative Anatomy Department of the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

of the

Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum The Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Argentine Museum ( es, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia) is a public museum located in the Caballito section of Buenos Aires, Argentina. History and overview The museum owes it ...

and

Diego Pol {{Short pages monitor