What is "dakotaraptor"

Dakotaraptor is a genus of large carnivorous theropod dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of North America.

The first fossils of Dakotaraptor were found in South Dakota, United States, in 2005. In 2015, the genus Dakotaraptor received its name, meaning "plunderer of Dakota", when the type species Dakotaraptor steini was described. The fossils contain an incomplete skeleton without a skull and some individual bones. They have been found in the Maastrichtian-age Hell Creek Formation, dated to the very end of the Cretaceous period, making Dakotaraptor one of the last surviving dromaeosaurids.

Dakotaraptor was about five to six metres long, which makes it one of the largest dromaeosaurids known. It had long arms. One of the lower arm bones shows quill knobs, proving that Dakotaraptor was feathered. It also had long rear legs with a very large sickle claw on the second toe. The claw could be used to kill relatively large plant-eating dinosaurs. Dakotaraptor lived in the same time and area as Tyrannosaurus rex.