Pyroraptor

Pyroraptor (meaning "fire thief") is an extinct genus of paravian dinosaur, probably a dromaeosaurid or unenlagiid, from the Late Cretaceous Ibero-Armorican island, of what is now southern France. It lived during the late Campanian and early Maastrichtian stages, approximately 72 million years ago. It is known from a single partial specimen that was found in Provence in 1992, after a forest fire. The animal was named Pyroraptor olympius by Allain and Taquet in 2000.

== Discovery and naming == === Naming and material === The first remains of P. olympius were discovered in southeastern France, at the La Boucharde locality of the Arc Basin in Provence. It was described and named by French paleontologists Ronan Allain and Philippe Taquet in 2000, the type species and so far the only species is Pyroraptor olympius. The generic name comes from πῦρ (pûr, Greek for "fire") and raptor (Latin for "thief"), since its remains were discovered after a forest fire that occurred in 1992. The specific name is derived from Mont Olympe, the mountain in Provence at the foot of which the animal's remains were unearthed.