Ypupiara is an extinct dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Brazil. Its name means “the one who lives in the water,” which relates to a local myth and suggests it may have eaten fish.
Ypupiara is part of a group called theropods, which includes some well-known carnivorous dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus rex. Specifically, it belongs to a smaller family called Dromaeosauridae and a subfamily called Unenlagiinae.
The first and only species of Ypupiara is Ypupiara lopai. Unfortunately, the original fossil remains were lost in a fire at the National Museum of Brazil in September 2018. Before the fire, scientists had recognized this fossil as a new species but had not published their findings.
The remains, found by a fossil hunter named Alberto Lopa in the 1950s, included parts of the jaw. Although it took many years for scientists to classify Ypupiara properly, in 2021, researchers officially described it as a new genus. They think that Ypupiara might have eaten fish, based on the shape of its teeth, which resemble those of other water-fishing animals.
Another fossil discovered earlier by Lopa, called “Lopasaurus,” has some similarities to Ypupiara, but it couldn’t be thoroughly analyzed because the fossil was lost after it was collected.
In summary, Ypupiara is a fascinating dinosaur from South America that might have had a diet mainly consisting of fish, and it is part of a unique group of theropods that lived long ago.