*Note: Apparently this discovery came to light in March of last year, but I only just heard about it today. How this one slipped by me, I don't know.
This may not be especially progressive, but I do need to live up to my moniker of "evolutiongeek" and share this, if for no reason other than the little kid in me still loves when new discoveries like this are made. Dromeosaurs, a group of saurischian dinosaurs that include Deinonychus, Velociraptor, Utahraptor, etc. were known from only the northern hemisphere until this new species, named Neuquenraptor argentinus was found in Patagonia. Actually the first bone fragments were found 10 years ago, but as is common in paleontology, it takes a lot of detailed study to determine what some fossils are, especially a new species. This particular dinosaur is projected to be about 6 feet long and has the famous, menacing toe claw of its kin, but from what I can understand a complete skeleton has yet to be found or constructed, so more excavation and study is certainly needed if we are to understand where this animal fits in the evolutionary scheme of things. Toe claws and bone fragments can be telling, don't get me wrong, but the skull is usually the most important artifact scientists can have as far as dinosaurs go, and I certainly hope a skull is Neuquenraptor will be forthcoming.
Growing up I remember reading every dinosaur book I could get my hands on, and it seemed if you wanted to dig up dinosaurs you had to go to China, the badlands of the United States, or Africa. How lucky am I to live in an age when amazing new discoveries are coming out of South America, ranging from the base of dinosaur evolution all the way to their last representatives (the new dromeosaur being among them, living during the end of the Cretaceous). Indeed, South America is yeilding all sorts of new and odd dinosaurs we've never seen before (Carnotaurus, Herrerasaurus, Giganotosaurus {A challenger to T. rex for the "largest land carnivore" record}, armored sauropods, and many others) , and I hope they continue to be exhumed for some time to come.
