‘Death Shadow’ Dinosaur Unearthed: The Largest Megaraptor Species on Record

So many of us grew up with a complicated mixture of awe and fear of the extraordinary titans from the Jurassic Parks movie series. I mean, an island full of hungry and prowling, teeth-gnashing, human-hungry reptiles? That sounds like the best type of cardio to me!

While the grandeur of these creatures was confined within the silver screens for many of us, that is not the case for thousands of palaeontologists. They work on such gigantic ancient remains to uncover the mysteries of life before civilisation. Once in a while, a species is discovered that causes a stir far outside the niche communities of palaeontologists.

One such stir announced recently by Argentine palaeontologists is the ‘Maip Macrothorax’. But you can call it by its more popular (and apt) name — the Death Shadow Dinosaur.

The ‘Maip macrothorax’ lived on Earth 70 million years ago and is the largest megaraptor unearthed to date. Argentine paleontologists believe this dinosaur would have been the apex predator of its time

Argentine paleontologist Mauro Aranciaga talks about the discovery of the fossilized bones of Maip macrothorax, the newly identified megaraptor dinosaur that inhabited the Argentinian Patagonian, at the Bernardino Rivadavia Argentine Museum of Natural Science, in Buenos Aires on May 2.

The Death Shadow Dinosaur

The Maip Macrothroax is a 70 million-year-old apex predator that weighed up to six tons and measured around nine to ten metres in length. These incredible dimensions make this fearsome mega-raptor larger than any other during the Cretaceous period that spanned 145 to 66 million years ago.

The Maip Macrothorax derives its name from Maip — an “evil” mythological figure of Patagonia’s indigenous Aonikenk people. ‘Macrothorax’ refers to the enormous expanse of the creature’s chest cavity, which was some 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) wide.

Argentine paleontologist Mauro Aranciaga talks about the discovery of the fossilized bones of Maip macrothorax, the newly identified megaraptor dinosaur that inhabited the Argentinian Patagonian, at the Bernardino Rivadavia Argentine Museum of Natural Science, in Buenos Aires on May 2.

A replica of the fossil of a dinosaur, the Megaraptor namunhuaiquii, at the Bernardino Rivadavia Argentine Museum of Natural Science, in Buenos Aires. (AFP)

Argentine paleontologist Fernando Novas compares the fossilized bones of Maip macrothorax with a book. The ‘Maip macrothorax’ measured between 9 and 10 meters long and ripped into its prey with sharp, curved claws, Aranciaga and Novas told AFP.

Aranciaga (left) and Novas check fossilized bones of Maip macrothorax. The first part, ‘Maip,’ is derived from an ‘evil’ mythological figure of Patagonia’s indigenous Aonikenk people. The character was associated with ‘the shadow of the death’ that ‘kills with cold wind’ in the Andes mountains, according to a study published in the Scientific Reports journal.

Fossilized bones of the Maip macrothorax, a newly identified megaraptor dinosaur that inhabited the Argentinian Patagonian area, are displayed at the Buenos Aires’ Natural Science museum. Megaraptors were a group of flesh-eating giants that once roamed what is now South America.

A fossilized cervical vertebra of Maip macrothorax. Maip was one of the last megaraptors to inhabit Earth before the dinosaurs went extinct about 66 million years ago. (AFP)

Argentine paleontologist Mauro Aranciaga Rolando poses with members of his team next to fossilized bones of the newly identified megaraptor dinosaur. (REUTERS)