Viavenator
Name:
Viavenator (road hunter).
Phonetic: Vy-ah-ven-ah-tor.
Named By: L. S. Filippi, A. H. M�ndez,
R. D. Ju�rez Valieri & A. C. Garrido - 2016.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Abelisauridae.
Species: V. exxoni (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Roughly estimated at about 5.5 meters
long for the holotype.
Known locations: Argentina - Bajo de la Carpa
Formation.
Time period: Santonian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial post cranial skeletal
remains including, caudal, dorsal and cervical vertebrae, ribs
and shoulder girdle. Fragmentary remains of the upper skull also
known.
Named
in 2016 from a single specimen, Viavenator is
another of the
growing number of South American abelisaurid
dinosaurs that are known
to us. At a glance Viavenator does not seem to be
anything special
apart from being another abelisaur, however the authors of the paper
describing this dinosaur have identified a combination of features
within the known skeleton that indicate that Viavenator
may actually be
a transitional form, linking earlier abelisaurids of the Cenomanian
and Turonian eras, with the later abelisaurids of the Campanian.
Out
of all the South American abelisaurids, Viavenator
has been
speculated to be more closely related to genera such as Carnotaurus,
Abelisaurus,
Aucasaurus,
Pycnonemosaurus
and Quilmesaurus.
Like
its relatives, Viavenator would have been a
predator of other
animals, and given the modest size of the holotype individual, a
hunter of small to medium dinosaurs.
Further reading
- A new brachyrostran with hypertrophied axial structures reveals an
unexpected radiation of latest Cretaceous abelisaurids. Cretaceous
Research 60:209-219. - L. S. Filippi, A. H. M�ndez,
R. D. Ju�rez Valieri & A. C. Garrido - 2016.
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