page_title: Sinraptor
section_title: Discovery
hierarchical_section_title: Sinraptor / Discovery
caption_attribution_description: Sinraptor dongi
context_page_description: Sinraptor is a genus of metriacanthosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic. The name Sinraptor comes from the Latin prefix "Sino", meaning Chinese, and "raptor" meaning robber. The specific name dongi honours Dong Zhiming. Despite its name, Sinraptor is not related to dromaeosaurids like Velociraptor. Instead, it was a carnosaur distantly related to Allosaurus. Sinraptor and its close relatives were among the earliest members of the Jurassic carnosaurian radiation. Sinraptor still remains the best-known member of the family Metriacanthosauridae, with some older sources even using the name "Sinraptoridae" for the family.
context_section_description: The holotype specimen of Sinraptor was uncovered from the Shishugou Formation during a joint Chinese/Canadian expedition to the northwestern Chinese desert in 1987, and described by Philip J. Currie and Zhao Xijin in 1994. Standing nearly 3 meters (9.8 feet) tall and measuring roughly 7.6 meters (25 feet) in length, two species of Sinraptor have been named. S. dongi, the type species, was described by Currie and Zhao in 1994. A second species, originally named Yangchuanosaurus hepingensis by Gao in 1992, may actually represent a second species of Sinraptor. Whether or not this is the case, Sinraptor and Yangchuanosaurus were close relatives, and are classified together in the family Metriacanthosauridae. Holtz estimated it to be 8.8 meters (29 feet) in length. In 2016 other authors stated that the holotype (IVPP 10600) was a subadult and estimated the size of the probable adult specimen (IVPP 15310) at 11.5 meters (37.7 feet) and 3.9 tonnes (4.3 short tons).
  The skeleton of Sinraptor hepingensis (formerly referred to Yangchuanosaurus) is on display at the Zigong Dinosaur Museum in Zigong, China.
caption: Life restoration of S. dongi
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