Genus
Valid Extinct

Rahonavis

Forster et al. 1998
Etymology Oiseau menaçant venant du ciel (''langues malgache et latine)''

Rahonavis is a genus of bird-like theropod from the Late Cretaceous of what is now northwestern Madagascar. It is known from a partial skeleton found by Catherine Forster and colleagues in Maevarano Formation rocks at a quarry near Berivotra, Mahajanga Province. Rahonavis was a small predator, at about 70 centimetres (2.3 ft) long and 0.45-2.27 kg, with the typical dromaesaurid-like raised sickle claw on the second toe. It was the first coelurosaur discovered in Africa, with Nqwebasaurus being the second.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
2
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling Terrestrial
Rahonavis
click to enlarge
Rahonavis in Royal Ontario Museum. © Bernard Sandler · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia
Rahonavis
Rahonavis
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Theropoda Unranked clade
Neotheropoda Unranked clade
Averostra Unranked clade
Tetanurae Unranked clade
Coelurosauria Unranked clade
Maniraptora Unranked clade
Paraves Unranked clade
Deinonychosauria Infraorder
Dromaeosauridae Family
Unenlagiinae Subfamily
Rahonavis Genus
Fossil sites 2 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇲🇬 Madagascar
2
Geological formations
Temporal distribution
Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)
2
Species (1)
Rahonavis ostromi 72 Ma
Synonyms (1)
Rahona replaced by Rahonavis
Images 2
Bibliography
Original description
C. A. Forster, S. D. Sampson, and L. M. Chiappe, D. W. Krause. 1998. Genus correction. Science 280(5361):185 DOI ↗
Bibliography (2)
P. M. O'Connor and C. A. Forster. 2010. A Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) avifauna from the Maevarano Formation, Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(4):1178-1201 DOI ↗
C. A. Forster, S. D. Sampson, and L. M. Chiappe, D. W. Krause. 1998. The theropod ancestry of birds: new evidence from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Science 279:1915-1919 DOI ↗