Named By: | Allain & Taquet in 2000 |
Time Period: | Late Cretaceous 70.6 Ma |
Location: | France, Provence |
Size: | Uncertain due to incomplete remains |
Diet: | Carnivore |
Fossil(s): | Arm, feet, some vertebrae and teeth |
Classification: | | Chordata | Reptilia | Dinosauria | Saurischia | Theropoda | Dromaeosauridae | |
Pyroraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of France. It is known from a single specimen. It was found in 1992 in the south of France, in Provence, and is known only from a few bones. It was named Pyroraptor olympius by Allain and Taquet in 2000. The name means "Olympic fire thief", because its remains were discovered after a forest fire. The type specimen consists of the distinctive foot claws, as well as fossilized teeth, arm and vertebrae. It lived during the late Campanian and early Maastrichtian faunal stages of the Late Cretaceous, approximately 70.6 million years ago.