
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A dinosaur fossil found in South Dakota’s Hell Creek Formation has led to the discovery of a new giant raptor.
The Lawrence Journal World reports that a research team that includes University of Kansas paleontologists named the estimated 17-foot-long feathered creature a Dakotaraptor.
According to a news release from the university, the raptor hails from the Cretaceous period and would have been lightly built and probably as agile as the vicious Velociraptor.
The fossil was discovered on Monday. It’s being researched and curated in Florida by a research team led by Robert DePalma of the Palm Beach Museum of Natural History.