Viavenator

Viavenator
Temporal range: Santonian
~
Life restoration of Viavenator exxoni
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Family: †Abelisauridae
Clade: †Furileusauria
Genus: †
Filippi et al., 2016
Type species
†Viavenator exxoni
Filippi et al., 2016

Viavenator (meaning "road hunter") is a genus of carnivorous abelisaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in the Santonian-aged (Late Cretaceous) Bajo de la Carpa Formation of Argentina. Only a single species is known, V. exxoni, formally described in 2016 by Filippi and colleagues.

Classification

Filippi et al. classified Viavenator to a new clade known as the Furileusauria,[1] which includes it as well as Carnotaurus. This would mean the former taxon was closer to the latter than Majungasaurus. It would have measured 5.6 metres (18 ft) in length.[2]

Palaeobiology

Size comparison of Viavenator to a human

Viavenator possessed a brain morphology similar to Aucasaurus, another South American abelisaurid, and had a similar inner ear. Compared to the Madagascan abelisaurid Majungasaurus, Viavenator was more reliant on quick movements of the head and sophisticated gaze stabilization mechanisms. However, both genera had a similar range of hearing according to the examinations and subsequent CT scans of the cranium.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ Leonardo S. Filippi; Ariel H. Méndez; Rubén D. Juárez Valieri & Alberto C. Garrido (2016). "A new brachyrostran with hypertrophied axial structures reveals an unexpected radiation of latest Cretaceous abelisaurids" (PDF). Cretaceous Research. 61: 209–219. Bibcode:2016CrRes..61..209F. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.12.018. hdl:11336/149906.
  2. ^ Grillo, O. N.; Delcourt, R. (2016). "Allometry and body length of abelisauroid theropods: Pycnonemosaurus nevesi is the new king". Cretaceous Research. 69: 71–89. Bibcode:2017CrRes..69...71G. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2016.09.001.
  3. ^ "Neuroanatomy of the abelisaurid theropod Viavenator exxoni". 23 June 2017.


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