Valdoraptor is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous. Its fossils were found in England. It is known only from bones of the feet. The holotype, BMNH R2559, was found near Cuckfield in layers of the Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation dating from the late Valanginian. The specimen is damaged lacking parts of the upper and lower ends. It has a conserved length of 215 millimetres (8.5 in) and an estimated length of 240 millimetres (9.4 in). This genus is paleontologically significant for being the first ornithomimosaur specimen known from England and represents the earliest record of ornithomimosaurs.
Valdoraptor
Lithograph of the partial left metatarsus of Valdoraptor, from Owen (1858, mirrored)
Tooth of V. oweni from Hastings, Sussex
Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation
The Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation is a geological unit which forms part of the Wealden Group and the uppermost and youngest part of the unofficial Hastings Beds. These geological units make up the core of the geology of the Weald in the English counties of West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent.
Cliffs of Tunbridge Wells Sand at Bexhill-on-Sea
A climber scales the Ardingly Sandstone at Bowles Rocks near Crowborough
Translational landslip at the boundary of the Wadhurst Clay and Tunbridge Wells Sand near Etchingham
Image: Serradraco sagittirostris Kellner and Rodriguez 2013