Maip macrothorax Maip is a genus of large megaraptorid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Chorrillo Formation of Santa Cruz, Argentina. The genus contains a single species, M. macrothorax, known from an incomplete, disarticulated skeleton. Maip may represent the largest megaraptorid known from South America, and possibly the world. Maip is estimated to have been around 9–10 metres (30–33 ft) long in life. As such, it may be the largest megaraptorid currently known. Members of the Megaraptoridae as a whole increased in body length following the extinction of the carcharodontosaurids in the Southern Hemisphere in the early Late Cretaceous. It is hypothesized that the absence of these large apex predators allowed other theropods to diversify and fill the empty niche space. Megaraptorids, in addition to abelisaurids and unenlagiids, then became the primary predators in their ecosystems. An analysis of known megaraptorans shows that members of the clade in Asia, South America, and Australia ranged from 4–4.5 metres (13–15 ft) long during the Barremian-Aptian, after which Aptian-early Turonian forms increased to 4.5–6 metres (15–20 ft) in Australia and South America. Turonian-Coniacian megaraptorids, only known from South America, were larger, at 6–7 metres (20–23 ft) long, and the final Santonian-Maastrichtian forms were larger still, at 7–10 metres (23–33 ft).
Excerpt above was taken from Wikipedia All vector modelling was done by me, @CretaceousCritter Feel free to use in any project you wish, with credit to @CretaceousCritter Skeletal reference was made by randomdinos on DeviantArt https://www.deviantart.com/randomdinos/art/Maip-macrothorax-skeletal-reconstruction-1122617441 Rain sound effect is by InspectorJ on Freesound.org https://freesound.org/s/401277/ License: Attribution 4.0 Thunder sound effect is by tosha73 on Freesound.org https://freesound.org/s/822673/ License: Attribution 4.0
