Velociraptor

Velociraptor is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago (Mya). Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the past. The type species is V. mongoliensis, named and described in 1924. Fossils of this species have been discovered in the Djadochta Formation, Mongolia. A second species, V. osmolskae, was named in 2008 for skull material from the Bayan Mandahu Formation, China. A possible record is known from the Nemegt Formation.

Velociraptor

Eduard Solà Vázquez · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
VelociraptorinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Dromaeosauridae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Dromaeosauridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Dromaeosauridae
Length
1.8 mWikidata
Mass
15 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At most 35 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 100.5 Mya and 66 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 20 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 20 of 20 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 20 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences96–95 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences92–90 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences89–88 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences88–87 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences87–86 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences86–84 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 2 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 2 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 2 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 2 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 2 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 2 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 2 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 2 occurrences74–72 Mya — about 2 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences101.2 Mya65.3 Mya

20 occurrences of Velociraptor on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

20 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Djadokhta — 44.25°N, 103.33°EDjadokhta — 43.66°N, 100.90°EDjadokhta — 44.22°N, 103.27°EDjadokhta — 44.13°N, 103.56°EDjadokhta — 44.00°N, 104.00°EDjadokhta — 44.15°N, 103.72°EDjadokhta — 44.09°N, 102.91°EBaruungoyot — 43.66°N, 107.84°EBaruungoyot — 43.30°N, 99.60°EDinosaur Park — 50.73°N, 111.52°WMinhe — 41.50°N, 106.98°EDabrazhin — 42.76°N, 68.54°EZouyun — 40.04°N, 112.42°EBayan Mandahu — 41.79°N, 106.72°E

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The named rock units Velociraptor has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Velociraptor and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Velociraptor and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

116 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 17 sites for Velociraptor, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

16 references

Each of the 20 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 4 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Velociraptor

Credit
Eduard Solà Vázquez
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itVelociraptorinae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Osborn 1924