Maip

Before formal naming or identification, this organism was known as the following on this wiki:
**Patagonian Megaraptor**

## Statistics

### Diet

Carnivorous

*Maip*, nicknamed the "death shadow" by press, is an extinct genus of megaraptorid dinosaurs that lived in Patagonia during the Late Cretaceous.

## History

The holotype, MPM 21545, was discovered from the La Anita Farm, 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of El Calafate, Santa Cruz province, Argentina. These include the axis, several dorsal and caudals, cervical and dorsal ribs, gastralia, a left coracoid, a fragmentary scapula, a partial pubis and a partial metatarsal. Some of these were described by Novas et al. (2019). The specimen was disarticulated over a 5x3 square meter (54x32 square foot) area. The holotype includes elements that were previously unknown in megaraptorids, being one of the most complete megaraptorid specimens, though fragmentary (as of 2022). In a Research Square preprint in 2021, the animal was first names, but the manuscript was deemed to have missed the necessary requirements, which made it a nomen nudum. However, a string of articles announcing discovery were published in 2020. In 2022, the genus was coined, with the generic name after the malicious being of Aónikenk mythology that "[is] the shadow of death" and "kills with cold wind", and the specific name from Greek and Latin, meaning "long chest".

## Description

This taxon is estimated to be 9-10 meters long, making it one of the largest of the family. This indicates an increase in body size following Carcharodontosauridae going extinct in the Southern Hemisphere during the Late Cretaceous, suggesting that megaraptorids exploited this niche to further diversify. This would make them, abelisaurids and unenlagiids apex predators of their environment. It is evident through available data that there is a size increase trend leading up to the Maastrichtian, when *Maip* lived. Preserved traces on ribs are interpreted as ligament anchor points that supposted a respiratory system similar to modern birds rather than extant reptiles (eg. crocodilians).

## History

Rolando et al. (2022) suggest that it is a derived megaraptorid that is recovered in a polytomy with other Argentinian taxa. They note that two distinct clades, a more inclusive "Clade A" including all except for *Fukuiraptor* and *Australovenator*, and an exclusive "Clade B" with larger and exclusively South American taxa. They find Megaraptora is coelurosaurian and sister to Tyrannosauroidea. They find:

## Paleoecology

—Rolando et al.
*Maip* was discovered from the Maastrichtian Chorrillo Formation, living in a fauna including *Isasicursor*. an elasmarian ornithopod, *Nullotitan*, ankylosaurs, euiguanodontians, hadrosaurids, noasaurids, unenlagiids, anurans, fish, mammals, mosasaurs, snakes, turtles, gastropods and a titanosaur. Very fragmentary material, including teeth and a dorsal centrum, were classified as megaraptorid but are too incomplete to identify at the specific level.

## References

* https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52723049
* https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-09272-z
* https://www.trtworld.com/americas/scientists-discover-fossil-of-largest-raptor-dinosaur-in-southern-argentina-56744
* https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentine-scientists-discover-fossil-largest-raptor-dinosaur-2022-04-28/
* https://newatlas.com/science/megaraptor-largest-raptor-dinosaur-maip-macrothorax/
* https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2022/04/maip-macrothorax-argentine-palaeontologists-discover-remains-of-largest-raptor-dinosaur.html
* https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220503-death-shadow-dinosaur-unearthed-in-argentina