Graciliraptor

Graciliraptor (meaning "graceful thief") is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the early Cretaceous Period.

[1] The type and only known specimen comprised part of the maxilla with some teeth, nearly complete fore and hind legs; and ten partial tail vertebrae.

[3] Graciliraptor is extremely lightly built for a non-avian theropod, with very elongated middle caudal vertebrae and lower leg bones.

The posterior articular processes of the tail vertebrae, or postzygapophyses, are connected by a thin bone sheath or lamina, that extends to the back over an eighth of the centrum of the following vertebra, thus further stiffening the middle tail, already immobilised by the typical dromaeosaurid long prezygapophyses.

[1] Xu and Wang considered Graciliraptor to have been closely related to Microraptor, a similar dromaeosaurid from the slightly younger Jiufotang Formation.

Restoration