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Falcarius

Martharaptor (after paleontologist Martha Hayden) lived in Woodlands of North America, 120 million years ago (early cretaceous). It was about 4 m long and was herbivorous. It had long neck and narrow head.

Only the third dinosaur in history ever to incorporate a female first name—the first was Leaellynasaura, named after the daughter of paleontologists Patricia Vickers-Rich, and the second was Sarahsaurus, named after philanthropist Sarah Butler—Martharaptor is also the most mysterious. All we know for sure about this dinosaur, named after the Utah Geological Survey's Martha Hayden, is that it was a theropod; the scattered fossils are too incomplete to allow a more conclusive identification. However, there are some tantalizing clues. Some of the preserved bones of Martharaptor bear a marked resemblance to another theropod of early Cretaceous Utah, Falcarius. This dinosaur has been conclusively identified as a therizinosaur—a weird offshoot of the theropod family featuring long front claws, shaggy feathers, and a prominent pot belly. Most strikingly, there's some evidence that Falcarius pursued an exclusively herbivorous diet, which would make it the first identified theropod not to be a dedicated carnivore (or at least an omnivore). If Marthraptor's kinship to Falcarius goes more than feather-deep, paleontologists may just have discovered the world's second plant-eating theropod!

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