In Depth
Spectrovenator is a genus of abelisaurid dinosaur that lived in South America during the early Cretaceous period. Spectrovenator is considered to be intermediate between the most primitive abelisaurid dinosaurs of the late Jurassic and the more advanced members of the abelisauridae of the late Cretaceous. Analysis of the skull reveals that Spectrovenator probably did not have the same feeding strategy of later abelisaurs.
The holotype individual of Spectrovenator was recovered from underneath the same area as the holotype individual of the sauropod dinosaur Tapuiasaurus. The hidden nature of these fossils and subsequent surprise at their discovery was the inspiration for the name Spectrovenator which means ‘ghost hunter’.
Further Reading
- An Early Cretaceous theropod dinosaur from Brazil sheds light on the cranial evolution of the Abelisauridae. - Comptes Rendus Palevol. 19 (6): 101–115. - H. Zaher, D. Pol, B. A. Navarro, D. Delcourt & A. B. Carvalho - 2020.
