New Argentinian dinosaur discovered with a last meal

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Previously as an unknown species from 2019 to 2023, this dinosaur has now recently now been identified as a new species of dinosaur, which this article will talk about. Discovered in the outcrops of the Lago Colhué Huapí Formation in Argentina, the dinosaur Joaquinraptor Casali or Joaquinraptor for short was discovered in 2019 and would take several expeditions and years for the excavation to be completed in 2023. The discovery itself wouldn’t be revealed until recently in 2025, when the group who carried the excavations, released the scientific papers revealing the fossil to be an entirely new species of Megaraptor. “Megaraptor” which is still a mysterious and incomplete group of species, is a genus of a large therapod that lived during the late Cretaceous period that lived in what is now is Argentina and in other parts in South America. Megaraptors are known to have distinct large hand claws and are noted to have strongly built forelimbs.

Joaquinraptor was discovered as an incomplete articulated skeleton, which had many of its features preserved compared to other previously discovered specimens, such as parts of its skull, fore limbs and parts of the hind limbs, parts of the ribs, and sections of the vertebrae. Alongside Joaquinraptor bones, a crocodile leg was found in the jaws of Joaquinraptor, which gave researchers hints about it’s about its diet and how it could have possibly died, which researchers determined that Joaquinraptor could have choked on its food before its death. The importance of this discovery can help shed light on megaraptorid evolution, the characteristics of megaraptorids, since most specimens of this therapod are usually found very fragmented, and its paleobiology.