Dino of the Week: Panguraptor

Type Species: Panguraptor lufengensis

Classification: Dinosauria - Saurischia - Theropoda - Coelophysoidea - Coelophysidae

Time Period: Early Jurassic

Location: China

Diet: Carnivore

Panguraptor – whose name means ‘Chinese plunderer’ – was a coelophysoid theropod from Early Jurassic China. Its remains were found in the Lufeng Formation, which captures snapshots of an alluvial plain of sandstone and mudstone. This was the first coelophysoid dinosaur found on the Asian continent. Being small, it was nowhere near the top of the food chain: its environment was dominated by crocodylomorph predators and the much larger, eighteen-foot theropod Sinosaurus. While Sinosaurus likely preyed upon sauropodomorphs of the area, or even upon smaller ornithischians, Panguraptor likely hunted small animals like lizards and mammals. Undoubtedly it would’ve been an optimistic scavenger, ransacking the bloated corpses left behind by a satisfied Sinosaurus.