Ozraptor

Ozraptor Temporal range: Middle Jurassic
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Infraorder:	Ceratosauria
Superfamily:	Abelisauroidea
Genus:	Ozraptor
Species:	O. subotaii
Binomial name
Ozraptor subotaii Long & Molnar, 1998

Ozraptor ("Australian thief") was an abelisaurian dinosaur that lived during the Middle Jurassic, Bajocian period of Australia. Only known from one partial leg bone ( the diatel end of the tibia), Ozraptor is difficult to classify, although does show certain diagnostic fetaures pertaining to the shape of the astragalus which enables it to be upheld as a distinct genus of dinosaur. When first discovered in 1967 by a group of Scotch College students from the Bringo Cutting site near Geraldton, the bone was thought to belong to a turtle after being examined by experts at the Natural History Museum in London. Re-evaluation of the bone after being prepared out of the rock by Long and Molnar (1998) showed that it was actually some sort of theropod. Another study by Rauhut (2005) suggested that it was indeed a theropod, and more specifically, an abelisaur based on the presence of a distinct median ridge on the astragular groove. The type (and only known) species is O. subotaiibased on the swift running thief and archer "Subotai" from the Movie Conan the Barberian.

References

• Long, J.A. 1998. Dinosaurs of Australia and New Zealand and other animals of the Mesozoic Era. Harvard University Press, UNSW Press, pp94-96. ISBN 0868404489.
• Long, J.A. and Molnar, R.E. (1998). "A new Jurassic theropod dinosaur from Western Australia". Records of the Western Australian Museum 19 (1): 221-229.
• Rauhut, O.W.M. (2005). "Post-cranial remains of ‘coelurosaurs’ (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Late Jurassic of Tanzania". Geological Magazine 142 (1): 97–107.